macrocosm and microcosm

8/9/2019 Macrocosm and Microcosm

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Macrocosm and Microcosm

Contents

CONTENTSAbbreviated Summary

Lecture One: The world behind the tapestry of senseperceptions! Ecstasy and mysticale"perience! #a$in% and sleepin%! The stream of for%etfulness! Man&s lifealternates between Macrocosm and Microcosm! The condition of e"pansion overthe Macrocosm in ecstasy! E"periences of the mystic in the inner life!'(st March) (*(+Lecture Two: The planets and their connection with sleepin% and wa$in% life! The di,erentforces and in-uences to which the human soul is e"posed durin% sleep!.reamless sleep) dreamlife) somnambulism! The planetary system as a cosmiccloc$! ConsciousnessSoul) MindSoul) Sentient Soul!''nd March) (*(+Lecture Three: The inner path followed by the mystic! E"perience of the cycle of the year! Thesentient body as a boundary between inner and outer e"perience! /t screensfrom everyday consciousness what would otherwise produce a burnin% sense ofshame! The Lesser 0uardian of the Threshold! The cycle of Nature! The NorthernMysteries! The sun at midni%ht! The ability to see throu%h matter! The 0reater0uardian of the Threshold!'1rd March) (*(+Lecture 2our:

2aculties of the human soul and their development! The re%ions beyond the twofrontiers within which manes normal consciousness is enclosed! 3assin% theLesser 0uardian of the Threshold throu%h conscious attention on wa$in%!E"perience of the three main forces of the soul as an incomin% stream from theMacrocosm! 2eelin%s of %ratitude and obli%ation towards the Macrocosm! Cosmic Thin$in%) cosmic 2eelin%) cosmic #ill! Cosmic forces must be replenished by thee,orts of men to reach the hi%her worlds! The outcome of sins of omission! Themystic vow!'4th March) (*(+Lecture 2ive:E%yptian Mysteries of Osiris and /sis! E"periences of the candidates in the

process of /nitiation! 3reparation of inherited characteristics! The 56pper7 andthe 5Lower7 man! Movin% bac$ward in the etheric body to the frontier of themineral $in%dom! The descent into the physical body! The priest of 8ermes as0uru! The 9osicrucian path! Mystics of the Middle A%es!'th March) (*(+Lecture Si":E"periences of /nitiation in the Northern Mysteries! Suppression of the E%o) anecessity! .an%er of loss of the E%o in the state of ecstasy! Methods forstren%thenin% the E%o durin% /nitiation in the Northern Mysteries! E"periencesconnected with the seasons of the year! 8elpers in the process of /nitiation!Conscious ascent into the Macrocosm! 3assa%e throu%h the hi%her worlds:Elementary #orld) #orld of Spirit) #orld of 9eason) #orld of Archetypal /ma%es!;See note on di,erent terminolo%y at end of <nal lecture='>th March) (*(+Lecture Seven:



The four spheres of the hi%her worlds! The process of union with the Elementary#orld) to which the four temperaments belon%! Adaptation to the #orld of Spiritafter balancin% the temperaments! At the threshold of the #orld of Spirit theob?ective perception of one&s own imperfection as an ima%e composed of all theElements! 3assin% the 0reater 0uardian of the Threshold and the vow to ac@uireself$nowled%e and selfperfection! /ntercourse with spiritual ein%s in the #orldof 9eason! 2orces for developin% clairvoyant consciousness in the #orld of

Archetypal /ma%es!'Bth March) (*(+Lecture Ei%ht:Mirrorima%es of the Macrocosm in man! Senseimpressions arise by a portion ofthe Elementary #orld bein% held bac$! The nervous system as an inner solarsystem! 9e-ection of the formative forces of the three hi%her worlds in thenervous system) brain and spinal cord! /ma%inative perception produces there-ectin% apparatus for the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es in the spiritual or%ans of perception! The ima%e of the puri<ed blood and the con@uest of the lower naturein the symbol of the 9oseCross! The sta, of Mercury! The 5lotus -owers7: hi%heror%ans of perception! The 9osicrucian path is the one best suited to man&spresent sta%e of development!'Bth March) (*(+Lecture Nine:Spiritual or%ans of perception and the stren%thenin% powers of sleep! 2ormulaeand symbols! The thin$in% of the heart! Three sta%es of the faculty of ?ud%ment!3reparation for e"perience of the hi%her worlds! The E%o to be viewed fromtwelve di,erent vanta%epoints! Surrender of personal opinions! E"periences inthe hi%her worlds must be translated into clearly formulated thou%hts!'*th March) (*(+Lecture Ten:

Transformations of soulforces and sta%es in the evolution of physical or%ans!9eadin% in the A$asha Chronicle! Transition from intellectual thin$in% to thethin$in% ;or lo%ic= of the heart! Three sta%es of development! Transformation ofmemory into another mode of soulactivity) not in Time but in Space! Therelative a%es of heart and brain! Circulation of the blood: a symbol of themobility of the consciousness of the spiritual investi%ator! 2our dimensionalspace! Transformations of the heart or%an as symbol of the three successivephases of the evolution of man and of the world! Transformation of theMicrocosm and also of the Macrocosm! /ntellectual @uestions have no meanin%when applied to states before intellect itself e"isted!1+th March) (*(+

Lecture Eleven:Man and planetary evolution! Spiritual $nowled%e and the powers of response totruth slumberin% in the heart! Adaptation to the various states of the Earth&se"istence! The physical is born out of the spiritual! Transformations of or%ansfrom earlier into new forms: for e"ample) the Earthheart as the outcome of theOld Moonheart! 2ormation of an or%an as a %erminal or%an for the future fore"ample) the laryn") throu%h which we are part of a spiritual order into which wemust %row with our own individuality! The spirit was breathed into us throu%h thelaryn"! reathin% as used in speech and son% must cooperate in thedevelopment of SpiritMan ;Atma=! .irect in-uence on the breathin% processshould be practised only when $nowled%e becomes prayer!1(st March) (*(+

LECT69E ONE T8E #O9L. E8/N. T8E TA3EST9D O2 SENSE3E9CE3T/ONS!



ECSTASD AN. MDST/CAL E3E9/ENCE The purpose of these lectures is to %ive a survey of <ndin%s of spiritualscienti<cresearch which enable us to %rapple with the most si%ni<cant riddles of humanlife F as far as this is possible within the limits to which understandin% of thehi%her worlds is sub?ect in our time! #e shall start today from more familiarphenomena and then endeavour to reach hi%her and hi%her spheres ofe"istence) to penetrate into deeply hidden riddles of man&s life! #e shall not

start from any concepts or ideas so <rmly established as to resemble do%mas)but refer) @uite simply at <rst) to matters which everybody will feel to beconnected with everyday life!All Spiritual Science is based upon the assumption that underlyin% the worldnormally $nown to us) there is another F the spiritual world! /t is in this spiritualworld underlyin% the world of the senses) and in a certain respect also the worldof soul) that we have to loo$ for the actual causes and conditions of what ta$esplace in those other worlds!/t will certainly be $nown to everyone here that there are de<nite methods whicha man may apply to his life of soul and which enable him to awa$en certaininner faculties slumberin% in normal daily life) so that he is <nally able toe"perience the moment of /nitiation! 8e then has around him a new world) theworld of spiritual causes and conditions underlyin% the world of the senses andthe world of soul! /t is as when) after an operation) a man hitherto blind <ndsaround him the world of colours and li%ht! /n normal life today man is shut o,from this world of spiritual realities and bein%s) and it is upon this world that weshall endeavour to shed li%ht in these lectures!On two sides F the outer and the inner sides as we may call them F man isshut o, from the spiritual world! #hen he directs his %aGe to the outer world) heperceives in the <rst place what is there presented to his senses! 8e seescolours and li%ht) hears sounds) is aware of warmth and cold) smells) tastes) and

so on! This is the world immediately around him! /n contemplatin% this world webecome aware) to be%in with) of a $ind of boundary! Throu%h direct perception)direct e"perience) man is unable today to loo$ behind the boundary presentedto him by colours and li%ht) sounds) scents and so forth! A trivial illustration willma$e this clear! Suppose we are loo$in% at a surface painted blue! 6nderordinary conditions) of course) we cannot see what is behind this surface! Ashallow thin$er mi%ht ob?ect that it is only a matter of loo$in% behind thesurfaceH ut this is not so in respect of the world outspread around us) for it isprecisely by what we perceive that an outer spiritual world is concealed from usand at most we can feel that colour and li%ht) warmth) cold) and so on) aree"ternal manifestations of a world lyin% behind! ut we cannot) at a %iven

moment) penetrate throu%h the colours) li%hts and sounds) and e"perience whatlies behind them! #e have to e"perience the whole outer spiritual world throu%hthese manifestations! ut after a little re-ection we shall be able) consistentlywith the most elementary lo%ic) to say: Even if modern physics or otherbranches of science declare that behind the colours there is vibratin% ethericsubstance) it soon becomes obvious that what is thus assumed to lie behind thecolours is somethin% added by thou%ht! Nobody can actually perceive whatphysics declares to be vibrations) movements) of which colour is merely ane,ect nor can anybody say with certainty whether there is reality in what isalle%ed to lie behind the senseimpressions! /t is) at <rst) mere con?ecture! Thee"ternal world of the senses is spread out before us li$e a tapestry and we havethe feelin% that behind this tapestry there is somethin% into which our faculty ofperception cannot penetrate! There) then) is the <rst boundary! #e <nd the second when we loo$ into our ownbein%! #ithin ourselves we <nd a world of ?oy and sorrow) of happiness andsu,erin%) of passions) impulses) desires) and so forthin brief) everythin% that we



somewhere! #e will decide later whether this world has been ma%ically con?uredup before him as delusion) or whether it is reality! The point is that there arestates in which a man sees worlds hitherto un$nown to him!Now this state of ecstasy is bound up with a @uite special drawbac$ for normalhuman bein%s! /t is evident from the e"perience itself that this ecstatic conditioncan be induced by natural means only if what the man in @uestion calls his E%o)his stron%) inner self) throu%h which he holds all his separate e"periences

to%ether) is) as it were) e"tin%uished! 8is E%o is entirely suppressed it is asthou%h he were outside himself) poured out into the new world which <lls thedar$ness around him! Countless human bein%s have already had the e"perience/ am describin%) or at least are capable of havin% it! F More will be said aboutthis in later lectures! There are two aspects to be noted in connection with this e"perience of ecstasy! The one is that the actual senseimpressions vanish) also the e"periences a manhas when he feels and can say: I/ see that colour) / hear these sounds)J and soon! /n the state of ecstasy he is never aware of his E%o) he does not distin%uishhimself from the ob?ects around him! 2undamentally spea$in%) it is only the E%othat can distin%uish itself from surroundin% ob?ects! Therefore in ecstasy a mancannot distin%uish whether he is havin% to do with mira%e or reality F for onthat the E%o alone can decide!/n ecstasy there is a loss or at least a considerable diminution of E%oconsciousness and a fadin% of senseperception these two e"periences runparallel! The tapestry of the senseworld seems to crumble) to dissolve it is as ifthe E%o F which otherwise seems to encounter a barrier constituted by thetapestry of the senseworld F were -owin% ri%ht throu%h the senseperceptionsand livin% in a world of pictures which presents somethin% entirely new! /n thestate of ecstasy a man becomes aware of bein%s and happenin%s hithertoun$nown to him) which he <nds nowhere in the physical world) no matter what

comparisons he ma$es! The essential point is that he e"periences somethin%entirely new!Somethin% happens in ecstasy that is li$e a brea$in% throu%h of the e"ternalboundaries around man! #hether this new world is illusion or reality will becomeevident at a later sta%e!Let us now as$ ourselves whether we are also able to %et behind our inner world)behind the world of our passions) impulses and desires) of our ?oys andsu,erin%s) sorrows) and so on! This too is possible! A%ain) there are e"perienceswhich lead out beyond the realm of ordinary soullife) if we deepen this soullifeinwardly! This is the path ta$en by many of those who are called mystics! /n thisprocess of mystical deepenin% a man <rst turns his attention away from the

world of the senses and concentrates it upon his own inner e"periences! Mysticswho resolve not to en@uire into the e"ternal causes of their interests) theirsympathies and antipathies) their sorrows) ?oys) and so forth) but who areattentive only to the e"periences ebbin% and -owin% in their souls) penetrateeven more deeply into their soullife and have @uite de<nite e"periences)di,erin% from those ordinarily $nown!A%ain / am describin% a condition $nown and accessible to countless humanbein%s! / am spea$in%) to be%in with) of e"periences that arise when normalconditions have been transcended to a very sli%ht de%ree only! The essence ofsuch e"periences is that the mystic who sin$s more and more deeply intohimself transforms certain feelin%s into somethin% @uite di,erent! /f) fore"ample) a normal man F one who is utterly alien to any $ind of mysticale"perience F su,ers a painful blow from another man) his resentment will bedirected a%ainst him! That is the natural reaction! ut one who practicesmystical deepenin% will have a @uite di,erent feelin%! Such a man feels: Douwould never have had to su,er this blow if at some time you had not brou%ht it



upon yourself! Otherwise this man would not have crossed your path! Dou cannottherefore ?usti<ably turn your resentment a%ainst one who was brou%ht intocontact with you throu%h happenin%s in the world in order to %ive you the blowyou have deserved! F Such persons) if they deepen their di,erent e"periences)ac@uire a certain feelin% about their soullife as a whole! They say tothemselves: I/ have $nown much %rief) much su,erin%) but at some time orother / was myself the cause of it! / must have done certain thin%s) even thou%h

/ cannot remember them! /f / have not deserved these su,erin%s in my presentlife) then obviously there must have been another life when / did the thin%s forwhich / am now ma$in% compensation!J Throu%h this inner deepenin% of e"perience the soul chan%es its former attitude)focuses more upon itself) see$s within itself what it previously sou%ht in theouter world! This is obviously the case when someone says to himself: IThe manwho %ave me the blow was led to me precisely because / myself was the causeof it!J Such people pay more and more attention to their own inner nature) totheir own inner life! /n other words) ?ust as an individual in a state of ecstasyloo$s throu%h the outer veil of senseperceptions into a world of bein%s andrealities hitherto un$nown to him) so does the mystic penetrate below hisordinary E%o! /t is the ordinary E%o that rebels a%ainst the blow which comesfrom outside but the mystic penetrates to what is below this E%o) to somethin%that actually caused the blow! /n this way the mystic reaches a sta%e where he%radually loses si%ht alto%ether of the outer world! Little by little) any concept ofthe outer world vanishes and his own E%o e"pands as it were into a whole world!ut ?ust as we will not decide at the moment whether the world revealed inecstasy is mira%e) reality or phantasy) neither will we decide whether what themystic feels as compared with the ordinary life of soul is reality or whether it ishe himself who is the cause of his sorrow and su,erin%! /t may all be so muchdreamin%) but it is nevertheless an e"perience that may actually come to a man!

The point of importance is that on two sides F outwards and inwards F hepenetrates into a world hitherto un$nown to him!/f we now re-ect that in a condition of ecstasy a man loses %rasp of his E%o) weshall realise that this is not a state to be striven for by one who is leadin% anordinary life) for the possibility of achievin% somethin% in the world) our wholepower of orientation in the world) depends upon the fact that in our E%o we havea <rm centre of our bein%! /f ecstasy deprives us of the possibility ofe"periencin% the E%o) then for the time bein% we have lost our very selves! Andon the other side) when the mystic attributes everythin% to the E%o) ma$eshimself the culprit for whatever he has to e"perience) this has the detrimentale,ect of ma$in% him loo$ within himself for the ultimate cause of everythin%

that happens in the world! ut thereby he loses the faculty of healthy orientationin life) burdens himself with %uilt and is unable to establish any ri%ht relationshipwith the outer world! Thus in both directions) in ordinary ecstasy and in ordinary mystical e"perience)the power of orientation in the world is lost! /t is therefore a %ood thin% that manencounters barriers in two directions! /f he brin%s his E%o to e"pression in theoutward direction) he encounters the barrier of senseperceptions they do notlet him throu%h to what lies behind the veil of the senseworld and that isbene<cial for him because he is normally able to $eep full possession of his E%o!And in the other direction the inner e"periences in the life of soul do not let himthrou%h below the E%o) below those feelin%s which lead to the faculty oforientation! 8e is enclosed between two barriers in the outer world and in theinner world of soul and in normal circumstances cannot penetrate beyond thepoint where orientation in life is possible for him!/n what has been described a comparison has been made between the normalstate of life and the abnormal states of ecstasy and uncontrolled mystical



e"perience! Ecstasy and mystical e"perience are abnormal states) but ineveryday life there is somethin% which helps us to be aware of the barriersreferred to very much more clearlynamely) the alternatin% states of wa$in% andsleepin% throu%h which we pass within '4 hours!#hat is it that we do in sleepK /n sleep we do e"actly the same) in a certainrespect) as we do in the abnormal state of ecstasy described above! The IinnermanJ in us spreads into the outer world! That is what actually happens! ust as in

ecstasy we pour out our E%o) lose hold of our E%o) in sleep we lose not only ourE%oconsciousness but we lose even more F which is bene<cial! /n ecstasy welose only our E%oconsciousness) but still have around us a world of hithertoun$nown pictures) a world of spiritual realities and bein%s! /n sleep there is nosuch world around us) for everythin% in the way of perception has %one! Thussleep di,ers from ecstasy in this respect: in sleep) to%ether with the e"tinction of the E%o) a man&s faculty of perceptionwhether physical or spiritualis alsoe"tin%uished! #hereas in ecstasy the E%o alone is e"tin%uished) in sleep thefaculty of perception and the consciousness too) are obliterated! Man has notonly poured his E%o into the world) but he has also surrendered hisconsciousness to this world! #hat remains behind of man durin% sleep is whatthere is in him apart from the E%o and apart from consciousness! /n the normalsleepin% man we have before us a bein% in the physical world who has discardedboth his consciousness and his E%o! And whither has the consciousness) whitherhas the E%o) %oneK 8avin% had an e"planation of the state of ecstasy) we areable to answer this @uestion too! /n the state of ecstasy we have around us aworld of spiritual realities and spiritual bein%s! ut if we also relin@uishconsciousness) then at that same moment dense dar$ness surrounds us F wesleep! Thus in sleep) as in ecstasy) we have surrendered the E%o) and further Fthis is the characteristic of sleep F the bearer of our consciousness and itsmanifestations! This is our astral body it is poured out into the world of spiritual

bein%s and facts revealed in the state of ecstasy! #e may therefore say thatman&s sleep is a $ind of ecstasy F a condition in which he is outside his body notmerely in respect of his E%o) but also in respect of his consciousness! /n thestate of ecstasy) the E%o) which is one member of the human bein%) has beenabandoned and in sleep another member too is abandoned) for the astral body%oes out of the physical body as well) and with this departure of the astral bodythe possibility of consciousness is eliminated!#e have) then) to picture man in sleep as consistin% on the one side of themembers still lyin% in the bed F the physical body and the etheric body F andon the other side) of the members outside the sleeper which have been %ivenover to a world that is to be%in with an un$nown realm these members are the

E%o) which in ecstasy is also surrendered) and a second member as well) whichin ecstasy is not surrendered: the astral body!Sleep represents a $ind of division of man&s bein%! Consciousness and E%oseparate from the outer sheaths and what happens in sleep is that man passesinto a state in which he no lon%er $nows anythin% about the e"periences ofwa$in% life) in which he has no consciousness at all of what outer impressionshave brou%ht to him! 8is inner self is %iven over to a world of which he has noconsciousness) of which he $nows nothin%! Now for a certain reason of which weshall hear a %reat deal) this world to which man&s inner self is %iven over) intowhich his E%o and his astral body have passed and in which he has for%otten allthe impressions of wa$in% life) is called the Macrocosm) the 0reat #orld! #hilehe is asleep man is %iven over to the Macrocosm) poured out into theMacrocosm!.urin% ecstasy he is li$ewise %iven over to the Macrocosm) but then he $nowssomethin% of it! /t is characteristic of ecstasy that a man e"periences somethin%F whether pictures or realities F of what is spread around him in a vast domain



of space in which he believes himself lost! 8e e"periences somethin% li$e a lossof his E%o but as thou%h he were in a realm hitherto un$nown to him! Thisidenti<cation with a world which di,ers from that of everyday life when we feel)sub?ect only to our bodies) ?usti<es us from the outset in spea$in% of aMacrocosm) a 0reat #orld F in contrast to the Ilittle worldJ of our ordinarywa$in% life) when we feel ourselves enclosed within our s$in! That is only themost super<cial view of the matter! /n the state of ecstasy we have %rown into

the Macrocosm) where we see fantastic forms) fantastic because there is noresemblance with anythin% in the physical world! #e cannot distin%uishourselves from them! #e feel our whole bein% as it were e"panded into theMacrocosm! That is what happens in ecstasy! #ith this conception of the state of ecstasy we are able F by analo%y F it leastto form an idea of why we lose holdof the E%o in that state!Let us picture the E%o of man as a drop of coloured li@uid! Assumin% that we hada very tiny vessel ?ust able to contain this drop) the drop would be visible by itscolour! ut if the drop were put in a lar%e vessel) let us say in a basin of water)the drop would no lon%er be perceptible! Apply this analo%y to the E%o which inthe state of ecstasy e"pands over the Macrocosm) and you will be able toconceive that the E%o feels itself becomin% wea$er and wea$er as it e"pands!#hen the E%o spreads over the Macrocosm) it loses the faculty of selfawareness) rather as a drop loses its identity in a lar%e vessel of water! So wecan understand that when man surrenders himself to the Macrocosm) the E%o islost! /t is still there) only bein% outpoured in the Macrocosm it $nows nothin% ofitself!ut in sleep there is another factor of importance! As lon% as a man hasconsciousness) he acts! /n the state of ecstasy he has a $ind of consciousness)but not the %uidin% E%o! 8e does not control his actions he surrenders himselfentirely to impressions made upon him! /t is an essential feature of ecstasy that

the man concerned is actually capable of actions! #atched from outside)however) it is as thou%h he had entirely chan%ed! /t is really not he himself whois actin% he acts as if under @uite di,erent in-uences! 2or many bein%s appearand e"ert in-uence upon him! There lies the dan%er of ecstasy! ecause whatman sees is a multiplicity) he comes under the control now of one bein%) now ofanother) and seems to be disinte%ratin%! This is the dan%er of the state ofecstasy! Man is indeed %iven over to a spiritual world but it is a world which tearshim asunder inwardly!/f we thin$ of sleep) we must admit that the world we there enter has a certainreality! The e"istence of a world can be denied only as lon% as no e,ects of it areobserved! /f it is insisted that there is someone behind a wall) this can be denied

as lon% as no $noc$in% can be heard if there is $noc$in%) commonsense can nolon%er deny it! #hen e,ects of a world are perceived it is not possible to re%ardthat world as pure fancy!Are there) then) any perceptible e,ects of the world which we see in ecstasy butnot in normal sleepK Of the e,ects of the world in which we are durin% sleep wecan all convince ourselves when we wa$e in the mornin%! Our condition then isdi,erent from what it was the previous evenin%! /n the evenin% we are tired) ourforces are e"hausted and must be replenished but in the mornin% we wa$e withfresh forces which have been %athered durin% sleep! #hen with his E%o andastral body a man is %iven up to another world) he draws from that worldwhichin ecstasy is perceived but in normal sleep is obliteratedthe forces he needs forthe life of day! 8ow this actually happens need not concern us now what isimportant is that this world brin%s us forces which banish fati%ue! The world outof which stream forces which %et rid of fati%ue is the same as the world we seein ecstasy! Every mornin% we become aware of the e,ects of the world we



perceive in ecstasy but not in sleep! #hen there is a world which producese,ects we can no lon%er spea$ of a nonreality!Out of the same world into which we %aGe in the state of ecstasy) and which insleep is obliterated) we draw the forces stren%thenin% us for the life of day! #edo this under @uite special circumstances! .urin% this process of drawin% forcesfrom that spiritual world we do not perceive ourselves! The essential feature ofsleep is that we achieve somethin% but have no awareness of ourselves durin%

this activity! /f we had any such awareness the process would be carried out farless eciently than it is when we are not conscious of it! /n daily life too thereare matters where we do well to say to many a man: I8ands o,HJ Everythin%would %o wron% if they interfered with it! /f a man were to play a part in thisdicult operation of restorin% the forces e"hausted durin% the previous day) hewould ruin everythin% because he is not yet capable of bein% a consciousparticipant! /t is providential that consciousness of his own e"istence is snatchedaway from man at the moment when he mi%ht do harm to his own development! Thus throu%h for%ettin% his own e"istence on %oin% to sleep man passes out intothe Macrocosm! Every ni%ht he passes over from his microcosmic e"istence intothe Macrocosm and becomes one with the latter inasmuch as he pours into it hisE%o and his astral body! ut because in the present course of his life he iscapable of wor$in% only in the world of wa$in% life) his consciousness ceases themoment he passes into the Macrocosm! That is why it has always been said inoccult science that between life in the Microcosm and in the Macrocosm lies thestream of for%etfulness! On this stream of for%etfulness man passes into the0reat #orld) when on %oin% to sleep he passes out of the Microcosm into theMacrocosm! So we can say that durin% every period of sleep) man surrenderstwo members of his bein% F the astral body and the E%o F to the Macrocosm!And now let us thin$ of the moment of wa$in%! At the moment of wa$in% a manbe%ins a%ain to feel pleasure) pain) and whatever ur%es and desires he has

recently e"perienced! That is the <rst e"perience! The second e"perience is thathis E%oconsciousness returns! Out of the va%ue dar$ness of sleep the soule"periences and the E%o reemer%e! #e have therefore to say that if manconsisted only of those members which remained lyin% in bed throu%h the ni%ht)he would not) on wa$in%) be able to be aware of past e"periences in the life ofsoul such as pleasure) su,erin% and so on) for what has been lyin% there is in thetruest sense in the same condition as a plant! /t has no soule"periences! utneither has the Iinner manJ durin% sleep) althou%h this inner man is the bearerof such e"periences! 2rom this we can realise that in ordinary life) beforesu,erin%) pleasure) sympathy) antipathy) and so forth) can actually bee"perienced) the astral body must dive down into the sheaths of man which

remain lyin% in bed otherwise he cannot become aware of any suche"periences! #e can therefore say: The part of our bein% F consistin% of astralbody and E%o F which at ni%ht is poured out into the Macrocosm and %ives riseto our inner e"periences) becomes perceptible to us in normal life only throu%hthe fact that on wa$in% we descend into the sheaths which have remained lyin%in bed!#hat lies there is a%ain twofold! One part of it is what we e"perience on wa$in%as our inner life! /n the Macrocosm durin% sleep we cannot be conscious of theplay of our feelin%s) or) in brief) of our soule"periences! ut when on wa$in% wepenetrate once a%ain into the members of our bein% which have remained lyin%in the bed) we can e"perience not only our inner feelin%s but also the outerworld of senseimpressions! #e perceive the red of the rose deli%ht in the roseis an inner e"perience perception of the red colour is an outer e"perience! Therefore what is lyin% there in bed must be twofold: one part must mirror to uswhat we e"perience inwardly) and the other part perceives an outer world! /fthere were only the one without the other) we should simply e"perience on



wa$in% either an inner world alone or an e"ternal world alone! A panorama ofouter impressions would be before us and we should not feel pleasure or painor conversely) we should feel only pleasure and pain and have no perception ofanythin% in the e"ternal world! #e dive down on wa$in%) not into a unity) butinto a duality! /n sleep) a duality of bein% has poured into the Macrocosm) and onwa$in% we dive down into the Microcosm) another duality! #hat enables us toe"perience an outer picture of the senseworld is the physical body) and what

enables us in wa$in% life to have an inner life of soul) is the etheric body! /f) onwa$in%) we were to penetrate into the physical body only) we should confrontouter pictures) but we should remain inwardly empty) cold and apathetic) havin%no interest in anythin% around us or presented in the pictures! /f we were topenetrate into the etheric body only) we should have no outer world) but only aworld of feelin%s) sur%in% up and ebbin% away! And so on wa$in% we enter atwofold bein% F we enter into the etheric body which acts as a mirror of theinner world) and into the physical body) the medium for the impressions of theouter world of the senses!Actual e"periences therefore ?ustify us in spea$in% of man as a fourfold bein%! Two of his members F E%o and astral body F belon%) durin% sleep) to theMacrocosm! /n wa$in% life the E%o and astral body belon% to the Microcosm thatis enclosed within the s$in! This Ilittle worldJ is the medium for everythin% wehave before us in the normal wa$in% state) for it is the physical body whichenables us to have an e"ternal world before us) and the etheric body whichenables us to have an inner life! Thus man lives alternately in the Microcosm and in the Macrocosm! Everymornin% he enters into the Microcosm! The fact that in sleep he is poured out)li$e a drop in a lar%e vessel of water) into the Macrocosm) means that at themoment of passin% out of the Microcosm into the Macrocosm) he must passthrou%h the stream of for%etfulness!

y what means) then) can man) provided he deepens himself inwardly) to acertain e"tent induce those conditions that were described at the be%innin% ofthe lectureK /n ecstasy) the E%o is poured into the Macrocosm) while the astralbody has remained in the Microcosm! /n what does the mystical state consistKOur life by day in the physical and etheric bodies) in the Microcosm) isremar$able in the e"treme! #e do not actually descend into these bodies in sucha way that we become aware of their inner nature! These two sheaths ma$epossible our life of soul and our senseperceptions! #hy is it that on wa$in% webecome aware of our life of soulK /t is because the etheric body does not allowus actually to loo$ within it) any more than a mirror allows us to see what isbehind it and for that very reason enables us to see ourselves in it! The etheric

bodies mirrors our soullife bac$ to us and because it does so) it appears to usas if it were the actual cause of our soullife! The etheric body itself) however)proves to be impenetrable! #e do not penetrate into it) but it throws bac$ to usan ima%e of our life of soul! That is its peculiarity! The mystic) however) throu%hintensifyin% the life of soul) succeeds in penetratin% to a certain e"tent into theetheric body he sees more than the mirrored ima%e! y wor$in% his way intothis part of the Microcosm he e"periences within himself what in the normalstate man e"periences poured over the outer world! Thus the mystic) throu%hinner deepenin%) penetrates to some e"tent into his etheric body he penetratesbelow that threshold where the soullife is in other circumstances re-ected in ?oy) su,erin%) and so on) into the interior of the etheric body! #hat the mystice"periences in passin% the threshold are processes in his own etheric body! 8ethen e"periences somethin% that is somewhat comparable with the loss of theE%o in the state of ecstasy! /n the latter case the E%o becomes evanescent) as itwere) havin% been poured into the Macrocosm) and in mystical e"perience theE%o is Idensi<ed!J The mystic becomes aware of this throu%h the fact that the



principle adopted by the ordinary E%o of actin% in accordance with the brainbound intelli%ence and the dictates of the senses) is i%nored) and the impulsesfor his actions arise from inner feelin%s issuin% directly from his etheric body andnot) as in the case of other people) merely re-ected by it! The intensely stron%inner e"periences of the mystic are due to the fact that he penetrates ri%ht intohis own etheric body!#hereas in the state of ecstasy a man e"pands his bein% into the Macrocosm)

the mystic compresses himself within the Microcosm! oth e"periences) whetherthat of perceivin% in ecstasy certain happenin%s and bein%s in the Macrocosm)or that of under%oin% unusual inner e"periences as a mystic) are related to eachother) and this relation may be characterised @uite simply in the followin% way! The world we see with our eyes and hear with our ears arouses in us certainfeelin%s of pleasure) pain) and so on! #e feel that in normal life all this isinterconnected! The ?oy in the outer world felt by one person may be moreintense than that felt by another) but these are di,erences of de%ree only! Theintense su,erin%s and raptures of the mystic are vastly di,erent in @uality! Thereare also %reat di,erences in @uality between what the eyes see and the earshear and what is e"perienced by a person in ecstasy) when he is %iven over to aworld that is not li$e the world of the senses! ut if we could have from someonein ecstasy a description of his raptures and torments) we should be able to saythat the person in ecstasy may derive from his vision of bein%s and eventse"periences such as those of the mystic! And if) on the other hand) we were tohear the mystic describin% his emotions and feelin%s) we should say thatsomethin% of the $ind may e@ually well be e"perienced in ecstasy! The world of the mystic is a real world! Similarly the bein%s encountered in thestate of ecstasy are sub?ectively real) in the sense that they are actually seen!#hether the e"periences are illusions or realities is at the moment beside thepoint! The person in @uestion sees a world that is di,erent from the senseworld

the mystic e"periences ?oys) emotions and torments which are not comparablewith anythin% $nown in everyday life! The mystic does not) however) see theworld that is revealed to one in the state of ecstasy) and the latter has noe"perience of the world of the mystic! oth worlds are independent of eachother! F /t is a stran%e relationship) but an e"planation of the world of the onemay be found in the li%ht of the e"periences of the other! /f a normal personwere actually to e"perience the world described by one in the state of ecstasy)the shatterin% e,ect would be comparable with the intensity of the e"periencesunder%one by the mystic!#e have thus pointed to a certain connection between the worlds of mysticaland ecstatic e"perience! oth inwardly and outwardly) man encounters the

world of the spirit!#hat has been described today will seem to many of you to be airy hypothesis)but we shall try in the ne"t lectures to answer the @uestions: To what e"tent arewe able to penetrate into a real world by wor$in% our way throu%h the tapestryof the outer world of senseK 8ow far is it possible to %et beyond the worlde"perienced by a man in the state of ecstasy and penetrate into a real outerworld) and to penetrate below the inner world of the mystic into a realm that liesbelow the human E%o but in which there is also realityK The ne"t lectures willspea$ in %reater and %reater detail of the paths leadin% into the spiritual worldthrou%h the Macrocosm and throu%h the Microcosm!

LECT69E T#OSLEE3/N0 AN. #A/N0 L/2E /N 9ELAT/ON TO T8E 3LANETS The relation between man&s wa$in% and sleepin% states has been broadlydescribed) and it was said that he draws from the latter the forces he needs



durin% wa$in% life in order to sustain his life of soul! These thin%s are much morecomplicated than is %enerally supposed and today) as the result of spiritualresearch) there will be somethin% more detailed to say about the di,erencebetween man&s wa$in% life and the state of sleep! Let me mention in parenthesisthat there is no need to spea$ of all the hypotheses) some more interestin% thanothers) that are advanced by presentday physiolo%y in order to e"plain thedi,erence between the two states! /t would be easy to spea$ of these theories

but this would only divert us from %enuinely spiritualscienti<c study of the twostates! All that need be said is that modern science concerns itself only with thepart of man which) durin% sleep) remains behind in the physical world! The factthat the E%o and astral body emer%e from the physical and etheric bodies whenman %oes to sleep can be reality only to spiritual investi%ation) to the eyes of aseer! The whole process is completely forei%n to modern physical science Fwhich need not) however) be severely criticised on that account in a certainrespect it is ?usti<ed in assertin% a onesided point of view! Man&s E%o and astralbody are in a spiritual world while he is asleep and in the physical world when hewa$es and comes down into the physical and etheric bodies!Let us now consider the sleepin% human bein%! uite naturally) normal humanconsciousness re%ards sleep as an undi,erentiated state that is not a sub?ect forfurther investi%ation! The @uestion is rarely as$ed whether) durin% the time manspends at ni%ht in a spiritual world) an in-uence on his bodyfree soul is e"ertedby several forces) or by a sin%le force only which permeates the spiritual world!Are we able to distin%uish various forces to which he is e"posed in that worlddurin% sleepK Des) several @uite di,erent in-uences can be distin%uished! Thein-uences do not) of course) primarily a,ect the members that remain lyin% inbed) but they a,ect man as a bein% of soul when his astral body and E%o haveemer%ed from his physical and etheric bodies!y considerin% certain familiar e"periences and facts we will now e"plore the

di,erent in-uences which are e"erted upon the sleepin% human bein%! A manhas only to be more attentive to what happens to him when he %oes to sleepand he will notice how the inner activity throu%h which) durin% the day) hemoves his limbs and brin%s his body into movement with the help of his soul)be%ins to -a%! Anyone who practises a little selfobservation at the time when heis about to %o to sleep will feel that he can now no lon%er e"ercise the samecontrol over his body! A $ind of lethar%y be%ins to overpower him! 2irst of all hewill feel incapable of directin% the movement of his limbs by the will control ofspeech is then lost! Then he feels that the possibility of enterin% into anyconnection with the outer world is slippin% away from him) and all theimpressions of the day %radually disappear! #hat disappears <rst is the ability to

use the limbs and especially the instruments of speech) then the faculties oftaste and smell) and <nally of hearin%! /n this %radual cessation of the inneractivity of the soul) man e"periences the emer%ence from his bodily sheaths!/n sayin% this we have already indicated the <rst in-uence that is e"erted uponman as a preliminary to sleep it is the in-uence that drives him out of hisphysical and etheric bodies! Anyone who practises selfobservation will noticehow a power seems to be overcomin% him) for in normal life he does not orderhimself to %o to sleep) to stop spea$in%) tastin%) hearin%) and so forth! A poweris now assertin% itself in him! This is the <rst of the in-uences to be e"erted fromthe world into which man passes at ni%ht it is the in-uence which drives him outof his physical and etheric bodies! ut if this were the only in-uence to bee"erted) the outcome would be absolutely calm) unbro$en sleep! This is ofcourse $nown in normal life it is the state induced by the <rst in-uenceconnected with sleep! ut there are other $inds of sleep!#e all $now the state of dream) when chaotic or clear pictures obtrudethemselves into sleep! #ere only the <rst in-uence at wor$) the in-uence that



draws man into a spiritual world) sleep unbro$en by any dream would be theresult but another in-uence becomes evident when sleep is bro$en by dreams! Two in-uences can be distin%uished: the one e"tin%uishes consciousnessinasmuch as it drives us out of our bodily sheaths) and the second con?ures theworld of dreams before the soul) thrusts this dreamworld into our sleep!ut some people have yet a third $ind of sleep! Althou%h this third $ind occursonly rarely) everyone $nows that it does occur it is when a man be%ins to tal$ or

act in sleep without the consciousness that is his in wa$in% life! 6sually he$nows nothin% the ne"t day of the impulses which have driven him to suchactions durin% sleep! The condition can be enhanced to the point of what isusually called sleepwal$in%! #hile he is wal$in% in his sleep a man may alsohave certain dreams but it is not so in the ma?ority of cases in a certain sensehe acts li$e an automaton) impelled by obscure ur%es of which he need not haveeven the consciousness of dream! Throu%h this third in-uence he enters intocontact with the outer world as he does by day) only now he is unconscious!Such actions in sleep are therefore sub?ect to a third in-uence! Three in-uences) then) to which the human bein% is e"posed durin% sleep canbe clearly distin%uished they are always present) and spiritual investi%ationcon<rms this! /n the %reat ma?ority of people) however) the <rst in-uencepredominates most of their sleep is unbro$en by dreams! The second in-uence)%ivin% rise to the state of dream) ta$es e,ects at intervals in nearly everybody!ut in by far the %reater number of people these two states are so predominantthat spea$in% and actin% durin% sleep rarely occur! The in-uence that ta$ese,ect in a sleepwal$er is present in every human bein% but in a sleepwal$erthis third in-uence is so stron% in comparison with the other two that it %ets theupper hand! Nevertheless every human bein% is liable to be e"posed to all threein-uences! These three in-uences have always been reco%nised in Spiritual Science as

distinct from each other! /n man&s soullife there are three domains) the <rstbein% mainly sub?ect to the <rst in-uence) the second more to the secondin-uence and the third more to the third in-uence! The human soul has athreefold nature) and it can be sub?ect to in-uences of three distinct $inds! Thepart of the soul that is sub?ect to the <rst in-uence which drives the soul out ofthe bodily sheaths) is $nown in Spiritual Science as the Sentient Soul the parta,ected by the second in-uence which drives the pictures of dream into man&slife of soul durin% sleep is $nown as the /ntellectual or MindSoul the third part)which in the case of most people does not assert its uni@ue character durin%sleep because the other two in-uences predominate) is called the Consciousnessor Spiritual Soul! Thus three in-uences are to be distin%uished durin% the state

of sleep the three members of the soul which are sub?ect to these threein-uences) are: Sentient Soul) /ntellectual or MindSoul) ConsciousnessorSpiritual Soul! #hen man is transported by one force into dreamless sleep) anin-uence from the world into which he passes is bein% e"erted on his SentientSoul when his sleep is pervaded by dreampictures) an in-uence is bein%e"erted on his /ntellectual or MindSoul when he be%ins to spea$ or to act in hissleep) an in-uence is bein% e"erted upon his ConsciousnessSoul!So far) however) we have considered only one aspect of man&s life of soul durin%sleep! #e must now describe the aspect of soullife that is the opposite of thesleepin% state! Let us thin$ of a man who is returnin% from sleep to wa$in% life inthe physical world! #hat is happenin% to him when he wa$esK At ni%ht a certainforce is able to drive him out of his physical and etheric bodies because hesuccumbs to it! /n later sta%es of sleep he succumbs to the other two in-uencesF those that are e"erted on the MindSoul and on the ConsciousnessSoul! utwhen these in-uences have been e"erted) the man is di,erent he under%oes achan%e durin% sleep! The evidence of the chan%e is that at ni%ht he was



fati%ued but in the mornin% has become able to cope with his life in the physicalworld! #hat has happened to him durin% sleep has made this possible! The same in-uence which ma$es itself felt in certain abnormal conditions in thedreamworld is present throu%h the whole of sleep) even when there are nodreams! The third in-uence) which ta$es e,ect in a sleepwal$er but in othercases does not operate) is the one that is e"erted on the ConsciousnessSoul!#hen the in-uences on the MindSoul and ConsciousnessSoul have ta$en

e,ect) man is stren%thened and ener%ised he has drawn from the spiritual worldthe forces he needs for his life durin% the ne"t day in order to reco%nise anden?oy the physical world! /t is primarily the in-uences e"erted on the MindSouland on the ConsciousnessSoul which stren%then man durin% sleep! ut when heis thus stren%thened) the same in-uence which drove him out of his physical andetheric bodies brin%s him bac$ a%ain into them when he wa$es in the mornin%! The same in-uence is bein% e"erted then in the opposite direction) and it ise"erted on the Sentient Soul! Everythin% connected with the Sentient Soul hasbecome e"hausted by the previous evenin%! ut in the mornin%) when we arefresh a%ain) we ta$e renewed interest in the impressions of the physical world Fcolours) li%hts) ob?ects F which will become causes of interest) pain or pleasure)inspire sympathy or antipathy in us! #e are %iven up to pleasure) to pain) inshort to the e"ternal world! #hat is it that is $indled in us when we are thus%iven up to the e"ternal worldK #hat is it that feels pleasure and painK #hat is itthat has interestsK /t is the Sentient Soul! /n the evenin% we feel the need ofsleep) we feel that our lively participation in the outer world is e"hausted but inthe mornin% it is refreshed a%ain! #e feel that the same manifestations of theSentient Soul which -a% at ni%ht) revive and reassert themselves in the mornin%!2rom this we can reco%nise that the same force which bore us out of ourselvesbrin%s the wa$in% soul bac$ a%ain into the body! #hat at ni%ht seemed to bedyin% away is as if reborn! The same force is operatin%) but now in the one) now

in the opposite) direction!/f we wished to ma$e a dia%rammatic s$etch of what happens) it mi%ht be donein the followin% way) but / emphasise that it is meant only as an indication!.ia%ram (/ have indicated by a dot the moment of %oin% to sleep) when man is drawn intothe subconscious and by drawin% loops / have indicated his surrender to thestate of sleep and his awa$enin% from that state! The lower loop indicates thecourse of life durin% the wa$in% state and the upper loop the sleepin% state! #ecan therefore say of the moment of %oin% to sleep that a force) wor$in% on theSentient Soul from the spiritual world) is drawin% us into that world! This isindicated by the <rst section of the upper loop in the dia%ram! The second

section of the same loop indicates the in-uence that is e"erted upon the/ntellectual or MindSoul) causin% dreams! And the third section of the loopindicates the in-uence or force that is e"erted on the ConsciousnessSoul! /n themornin%) the same force that has drawn us into the sleepin% state drives us outof it and into the life of day! This is the force that wor$s upon the Sentient Soul! The same applies to the in-uences e"erted on the MindSoul and on theConsciousnessSoul! .urin% the ni%ht man moves around a $ind of circle! On%oin% to sleep he moves towards the re%ion where the in-uence upon theConsciousnessSoul is stron%est! 2rom that point he moves a%ain towards theforce that wor$s upon his Sentient Soul and brin%s him bac$ into the wa$in%state! Thus there are three forces which wor$ upon man durin% sleep! Since early timesthese three forces have been %iven de<nite names in spiritual science! Thesenames are familiar to you) but / be% you now not to thin$ of anythin% inconnection with them e"cept that they stand for the three forces which durin%sleep wor$ upon these three parts of the human soul! /t we were to %o bac$ to



ancient times we should <nd that these desi%nations were used ori%inally forthese three forces and if the desi%nations are now used in other ways) theyhave simply been borrowed! The force which wor$s upon the Sentient Soul andat the times of %oin% to sleep and wa$in% drives man out of his bodily sheathsand eventually into them a%ain) was desi%nated in one of the ancient lan%ua%esby a name that would correspond with the word 5Mars7! The force which wor$supon the MindSoul after the man has %one to sleep and a%ain before wa$in%)

that is to say) in two di,erent periods) was desi%nated by the word 5upiter!7 /t isthe force which drives the world of dreams into the MindSoul! The force whichwor$s upon the ConsciousnessSoul durin% sleep and under specialcircumstances would ma$e a man into a sleepwal$er) was desi%nated by thename 5Saturn!7#e may therefore say) usin% the terminolo%y of ancient spiritual science: 5Mars7sends man to sleep and wa$es him 5upiter7 sends dreams into his sleep anddar$ 5Saturn7 stirs into unconscious action durin% sleep a man who cannotwithstand its in-uence! 2or the time bein% we will thin$ of the ori%inal) spiritualsi%ni<cance of these names as denotin% forces that wor$ upon the human bein%durin% sleep) when he is outside his physical and etheric bodies in the spiritualworld) not of their si%ni<cance in astronomy!Now what happens when man wa$es in the mornin%K 8e actually enters a @uitedi,erent world which he normally re%ards today as the only one belon%in% tohim! /mpressions from outside are made upon his senses) but he is unable toloo$ behind these impressions! #hen he wa$es from sleep) the whole tapestry of the senseworld lies outspread before him! ut not only does he perceive thise"ternal world with his senses to%ether with every perception he feelssomethin%! 8owever sli%ht the pleasurable sensation may be on perceivin%) fore"ample) some colour) nevertheless a certain inner process is always present!All e"ternal senseperceptions wor$ in such a way that they %ive rise to certain

inner states everyone will realise that the e,ect of violet is di,erent from that of %reen! /t is the Sentient ody that enables the senseimpressions to be receivedit causes men to see yellow) for e"ample but what we e"perience and feelinwardly as a result of the impressions made upon us by the red) violet or yellowcolour F that is caused by the Sentient Soul! A <ne distinction must be madebetween these functions of the Sentient ody and the Sentient Soul!/n the mornin% the Sentient Soul be%ins to be %iven up to the impressions of theouter world brou%ht to it by the Sentient ody! The part of us ;Sentient Soul=which durin% sleep was e"posed to the Mars in-uence is %iven over on wa$in% tothe e"ternal world of the senses! Spiritual science a%ain %ives a special name tothe whole of the e"ternal senseworld in so far as it arouses certain feelin%s of

pleasure or pain) ?oy or sadness in our souls! ut under that name we must thin$only of the in-uence wor$in% upon our Sentient Soul from the tapestry of theouter world of the senses this force does not let us remain cold and impassivebut <lls us with certain feelin%s! So that ?ust as the <rst in-uence e"erted on theSentient Soul after we %o to sleep is %iven the name of Mars) the in-uence whichta$es e,ect on wa$in% is called the force of 5Penus7!Similarly) an in-uence from the physical world is e"erted durin% wa$in% life uponthe /ntellectual or MindSoul when it is within the bodily sheaths! This is adi,erent in-uence it is the in-uence which enables us to withdraw from e"ternalimpressions and to wor$ upon them inwardly) to re-ect upon them! Notice thedi,erence there is between the e"periences of the Sentient Soul and those ofthe /ntellectual or MindSoul! The Sentient Soul has e"periences only as lon% asa man is %iven up to the outer world it receives the impressions of the outerworld! ut if for a time in wa$in% life he pays no attention to the actualimpressions of the outer world) if he ponders over them and lets the feelin%s ofpleasure) pain) and so forth) merely echo on within him) then he is %iven over to



his MindSoul! Compared with the Sentient Soul it has rather moreindependence! There are in-uences which enable a man durin% wa$in% life notmerely to stand %aGin% at the tapestry of the senseworld but to turn hisattention away from all that) to form thou%hts whereby he combines e"ternalimpressions in his mind and enable him to ma$e himself independent of thein-uences of the outer world! These are the in-uences of 5Mercury!7 The in-uence of Mercury wor$s durin% the day upon man&s /ntellectual or Mind

Soul ?ust as the in-uence of upiter wor$s upon it durin% sleep at ni%ht! Dou willnotice that there is a certain correspondence between the in-uences of5Mercury7 and of 5upiter7! QR See) 8uman uestions and Cosmic Answers)lecture '! /n the case of a normal person today the upiter in-uences penetrateinto his life of soul as dreampictures! The correspondin% in-uences durin%wa$in% life) the Mercury in-uences) wor$ in a man&s thou%hts) in his inner)re-ective e"periences! #hen the upiter in-uences are wor$in% in a man&sdreams) he does not $now whence his e"periences come durin% wa$in%consciousness) however) when the Mercury in-uences are wor$in%) he $nowsthe source of them! /n both cases) inner processes are bein% pictured in the soul!F Such is the correspondence between the in-uences of upiter and those ofMercury!/n the wa$in% life of day there are also in-uences which wor$ upon theConsciousnessSoul! #hat are the di,erences between Sentient Soul) /ntellectualor MindSoul) and ConsciousnessSoulK The Sentient Soul operates when we aremerely %aGin% at the thin%s of the e"ternal world! /f we withdraw our attentionfor a time from the impressions of this outer world and wor$ over them inwardly)then we are %iven over to the MindSoul! ut if we now ta$e what has beenwor$ed over in thou%ht) turn a%ain to the outer world and relate ourselves to itby passin% over to deeds) then we are %iven over to the ConsciousnessSoul! 2ore"ample: As lon% as / am simply loo$in% at these -owers in front of me and my

feelin%s are moved by the pure whiteness of the rose) / am %iven up to mySentient Soul! /f) however) / avert my %aGe and no lon%er see the -owers butonly thin$ about them) then / am %iven over to my /ntellectual or MindSoul! / amwor$in% in thou%ht upon the impressions / have received! /f now / say to myselfthat because the -owers have %iven me pleasure / will %ladden someone else bypresentin% them to him and then pic$ them up in order to hand them over) / amperformin% a deed / am passin% out of the realm of the MindSoul into that ofthe ConsciousnessSoul and relatin% myself a%ain to the outer world! 8ere is athird force which operates in man and enables him not only to wor$ over inthou%ht the impressions of the outer world) but to relate himself to that worlda%ain!

Dou will notice that there is a%ain a correspondence between the activity of theConsciousness Soul in the wa$in% state and in sleep! Dou have heard that whenthis in-uence is bein% e"erted in sleep a man becomes a sleepwal$er hespea$s and acts in his sleep! /n the wa$in% state) however) he acts consciously!At ni%ht) in sleepwal$in% he is impelled by the force of dar$ 5Saturn!7 Thein-uence which durin% wa$in% life wor$s upon man&s ConsciousnessSoul in sucha way that independence can be achieved in conditions of ordinary life) is calledin Spiritual Science the force of the 5Moon7! 8ere a%ain) please for%et whatevermental pictures you have hitherto connected with this word! Dou will presentlyunderstand the reason for these desi%nations! Thus we have found that man&s soul in wa$in% life and in sleep has threedi,erent members) that it is sub?ect to three di,erent in-uences! .urin% theni%ht when man is in the spiritual world he is sub?ect to the forces desi%nated inSpiritual Science as those of 5Mars7) 5upiter7 and 5Saturn7 his threefold life ofsoul by day is %iven over to the forces desi%nated as those of 5Penus7)5Mercury7 and 5Moon7!



This is the course traversed by man in the '4 hours of day and ni%ht! And nowwe will thin$ of a series of phenomena which belon% to a @uite di,erent domainbut which for certain reasons can be studied in connection with what has beensaid! These reasons will be made clear as the lectures proceed! 3leaseremember that many thin%s said at the be%innin% of this Course will bee"plained only at a later sta%e! Dou are all familiar with the ideas held by modern astronomical science of the

course of the Earth around the Sun and also of the other planets belon%in% tothe solar system! #hat is said in treatises of the usual $ind represents) in theview of Spiritual Science) only the most elementary be%innin%! #hat ta$es placein the physical world is for Spiritual Science a symbol) an e"ternal picture) ofinner) spiritual processes and what we are accustomed to learn about ourplanetary system from elementary astronomy can be compared) as re%ards whatreally underlies it) with what is learnt by a child about the movements of a cloc$!#e e"plain to him what the twelve conventional <%ures stand for) and what therotation of the two hands F one slow and the other @uic$er F means! The childwill eventually be able to tell us from the position of the hands when) let us say)the time is halfpast nine! ut that would not mean very much! The child mustlearn a %reat deal more) for e"ample) to relate the movement of the hands towhat is happenin% in the world! #hen the hourhand stands at si" and theminutehand at twelve) he must $now what time of the day this si%ni<es Fnamely that at a certain season of the year) if it is early mornin%) the Sun will berisin% then! 8e must learn to relate what is presented on the face of the cloc$ toconditions in the world and to re%ard what the cloc$ e"presses as a picture ofthem!#e are tau%ht as children that the Sun is at the centre of the solar system andthat the planets revolve around it<rst the planet now called Mercury) then theplanet now called Penus) QR/n former times the names of these two planets came

to be reversed! See later para%raphs of this lecture! then the Earth plus Moon)then Mars) upiter and Saturn! Astronomical maps of the heavens show us whereSaturn or upiter or Mars are to be found in certain months of the year! #hen wehave learnt to $now the relative positions of the planets at de<nite times of theyear) we have learnt as much about the heavens as a child has learnt about thecloc$ when from the position of the hands he is able to say that the time is halfpast nine!ut then we can %o on to learn somethin% else! ust as a child learns toreco%nise what conditions are indicated by the position of the hands of a cloc$)we can learn to reco%nise macrocosmic forces penetratin% invisibly into spacebehind a %reat cosmic timepiece! #e realise then that our solar system) with the

planets in their di,erent positions and mutual relationships) %ives e"pression tocertain macrocosmic powers! 2rom this timepiece of our planetary system wecan pass on to contemplate the %reat spiritual relationships! The position ofevery planet will become the e"pression of somethin% lyin% behind and we shallbe able to say that there are reasons for the various relationships in which) fore"ample) Penus stands to upiter) and so on! There are actual reasons for sayin%that these conditions are brou%ht about by divinespiritual 3owers) ?ust as thereare reasons for sayin% that the cosmic timepiece is constructed accordin% to ade<nite plan! The idea of the planetary movements in the solar system thenbecomes full of si%ni<cance! Otherwise the cosmic timepiece would seem tohave been constructed haphaGardly! The planetary system becomes for us a$ind of cosmic cloc$) a means of e"pression for what lies behind the heavenlybodies and their movements in the solar system!Let us <rst of all consider this cosmic cloc$ itself! The idea of the planetarysystem havin% formed itself is easily refuted! Dou will all have been tau%ht inschool about the formation of the planetary system! Dou will have been told) in



e,ect) that a %i%antic nebula in the universe once be%an to rotate and then theSun) with the planets around it) were formed by a process of separation from thenebula itself! This will probably have been demonstrated by an e"periment! /t iseasy to rotate a drop of oil on the surface of water in a bowl! Tiny drops separateo, and rotate around a lar%er drop which remains at the centre! The teacher willpoint out that this represents) on a minute scale) the formation of a planetarysystem and nobody will @uestion it! ut a sharpwitted pupil mi%ht say to the

teacher: 5Dou have for%otten somethin% that in other circumstances it mi%ht beconvenient to for%et) but not in this case! Dou have for%otten your own part inthe e"periment because it is you who have rotated the drop of oilH7 F 2or thesa$e of lo%ic the most important factor of all should not be for%otten! /t should atleast be assumed that a colossal power in cosmic space brou%ht the whole solarsystem into e"istence throu%h rotation! The e"periment in itself points to thefact that there must be somethin% behind what is rotatin% it points to thee"istence of forces which cause the movement that is perceptible to the eye! /nthe same way there are forces and 3owers behind the %reat cosmic edi<ce of oursolar system!And now we will thin$ of the outer aspect of this solar system! ;See dia%ram=! The Earth revolves around the Sun.ia%ram 'at the centre! / will leave out details! At a certain time of the year the Earthstands at one point and at another time somewhere else! The Moon revolvesaround the Earth and the planets usually called Mercury and Penus are nearer tothe Sun and revolve around it! / emphasise here that in the course of time achan%e has ta$en place in the names of these two planets! QR This chan%e ofnames must be $ept closely in mind when references are made to the twoplanets! The planet that is called Mercury today was formerly called Penus) andthe planet called Penus today was formerly called Mercury! Penus) ;formerly

Mercury= is nearer the Sun than the planet now called Mercury ;formerly Penus=! Then) farther away than the Earth) the dia%ram indicates Mars) upiter andSaturn revolvin% around the Sun! The relative positions are not strictly correctbut that does not matter here! #e will leave the other planets out ofconsideration today!Now let us assume that as it revolves the Earth comes to a position betweenMars and the Sun! This will very seldom be the case but we will assume for themoment that it is so! Then) in the space between Earth and Sun there will be theplanets Mercury and Penus) and on the other side of the Sun) Mars) upiter andSaturn! Leavin% aside the Earth) the se@uence will be: Sun) Penus) Mercury)Moon) on one side Sun) Mars) upiter) Saturn) on the other! A looped line ;see

dia%ram= drawn around the heavenly bodies is a lemniscate).ia%ram 1with the Sun at the centre of the loopsit is the same line as the one indicatin%the cycle of man&s wa$in% and sleepin% life! Thus it is possible F thou%h not %enerally the case F for the planets to bearran%ed in the solar system in an order similar to that followed by man incompletin% the cycle of wa$in% and sleepin%! Ta$in% the moment of %oin% tosleep and that of wa$in% as the centre) the same spatial order can be indicatedfor the planetary system as for the daily life of man! The perspective here revealed is one of mi%hty forces underlyin% the order ofour planetary system) re%ulatin% the %reat cosmic timepiece as our own lives arere%ulated throu%h the course Of '4 hours! The thou%ht will then not seemabsurd that mi%hty forces are operatin% in the Macrocosm F forces analo%ous tothose which %uide our lives durin% the day and ni%ht! As the outcome of suchthou%hts the same names came into use in ancient science for the forces of theuniverse as for the forces which wor$ upon our own lives! The force which in the



Macrocosm drives Mars around the Sun is similar to the one that sends us tosleep! The force in the Macrocosm which drives Penus around the Sun is similarto the one which re%ulates the Sentient Soul by day! 2aro, Saturn) with its sli%htin-uence) seein% to resemble those wea$ forces that wor$) in special cases only)upon the ConsciousnessSoul in people who are sleepwal$ers! And the rotationof the Moon around the Earth is due to a force similar to that which re%ulates ourconscious deeds in wa$in% life! The spatial distances si%nify somethin% that

comes to e"pression in a certain respect in our own timere%ulated life! F #eshall %o into these thin%s more deeply and it is only a matter today of callin%attention to them! F /f we consider) @uite super<cially) that Saturn is the mostremote planet and has accordin%ly the wea$est e,ect upon our Earth) this canbe compared with the fact that the forces of dar$ Saturn have only a sli%ht e,ectupon the sleepin% human bein%! And similarly) the force which drives upiteraround the Sun can be li$ened to that which penetrates comparatively seldominto our lives) namely) the dreamworld! Thus we <nd a remar$able correlation between human life) the Microcosm) andthe forces wor$in% in the %reat cosmic cloc$) drivin% the several planets roundthe Sun in the Macrocosm!/n very truth the world is in<nitely more complicated than is supposed! Ourhuman nature is comprehensible only if we ta$e account of its $inship with theMacrocosm! nowin% this) spiritual researchers in all epochs have chosencorrespondin% desi%nations for the 0reat #orld and the Little #orld F the latterbein% the seemin%ly insi%ni<cant bodily man enclosed within the s$in!/ have only been able today to %ive a faint indication of correspondencesbetween the Microcosm ;man= and the Macrocosm ;the solar system=! ut it willnow be evident to you that such correspondences do indeed e"ist! As thou%hfrom afar / have alluded to ein%s whose forces wor$ throu%h space andre%ulate the movements of our planetary system ?ust as the movements of the

hands of a cloc$ in the physical world are re%ulated! #e have only so much as%lanced at the frontier of the re%ion where we may hope that spiritual worlds willreveal themselves to us! /n the comin% lectures we shall learn to reco%nise notonly the planets as the hands of the %reat cosmic cloc$ but also the actualein%s who have brou%ht the whole solar system into movement) who %uide theplanets round the Sun and prove to be a$in to what %oes on in the human bein%himself! And so we shall come to understand how man is born as a Little #orld) aMicrocosm) out of the 0reat #orld) the Macrocosm!

LECT69E T89EE

T8E /NNE9 3AT8 2OLLO#E. D T8E MDST/C!E3E9/ENCE O2 T8E CDCLE O2 T8E DEA9 To obviate any possible misunderstandin%) / want to emphasise that the aim ofyesterday&s lecture was not that of provin% anythin% in particular but merely topoint out that certain observations led spiritual investi%ators of by%one times todesi%nate by similar names certain processes and ob?ects in space and certainprocesses and happenin%s in our own daily and ni%htly e"periences! The mainpurpose of the lecture was to introduce concepts that will be re@uired in ourfurther studies! The lectures %iven in this Course must be re%arded as a whole)and the early lectures are in the widest sense intended to assemble the ideasand conceptions needed for the $nowled%e of the spiritual worlds that is to becommunicated in those that come later! Today) too) we shall ta$e our start fromfamiliar e"periences and pass on %radually to more remote realms of spirit!#e have heard in previous lectures that in respect of his inner bein%) in respect)that is to say) of his astral body and E%o) man lives durin% the sleepin% state in aspiritual world and on wa$in% returns into his physical and etheric bodies! /t will



be evident to anyone who observes life that when this transition from thesleepin% to the wa$in% state ta$es place) there is a complete chan%e ofe"perience! #hat we e"perience in the wa$in% state denotes no actualperception or $nowled%e of the two members of our bein% into which wedescend on wa$in%! #e come down into our etheric and physical bodies buthave no e"perience of them from within!#hat does a man $now in ordinary life about the aspects presented by his

physical and etheric bodies when seen from withinK The essential fact ofe"perience in the wa$in% state is that we view our own bein% in the physicalworld from without) not from within! #e view our physical body from outsidewith the same eyes with which we loo$ at the rest of the world! .urin% wa$in%life we never contemplate our own bein% from within) but always from without!#e really learn to $now ourselves as men only from outside) re%ardin% ourselvesas bein%s of the senseworld! There is) of course) an actual state of transition from sleepin% to wa$in% life!8ow) then) would it be if we were really able) on descendin% into our etheric andphysical bodies) to contemplate ourselves from withinK #e should seesomethin% @uite di,erent from what we see in the ordinary way: we should $nowthe intimate e"periences sou%ht by the mystic! The mystic endeavours to diverthis attention entirely from the outer world) to shut out the impressions invadin%his eyes and other senses and to penetrate into his inmost bein%! ut leavin%aside e"periences of this $ind) we can say that in daily life we are protected fromthe si%ht of our inner bein%) for at the moment of wa$in% our %aGe is diverted tothe e"ternal world around us) to the tapestry presented by the senses F thetapestry of which our physical body) when observed durin% wa$in% life) is a part! Thus in the wa$in% state the possibility of observin% ourselves from within)eludes us! /t is as thou%h we had been led un$nowin%ly across a stream: whilewe sleep we are on this side of the stream) when we are awa$e) on yonder side!

/f we were capable of perceivin% anythin% from 5this side7) we should be able toperceive our E%o and our astral body as we perceive outer ob?ects in wa$in% lifebut a%ain we are protected from perceivin% our own inner bein% in sleep) for atthe moment of %oin% to sleep the possibility of perceivin% ceases andconsciousness is e"tin%uished! Thus between our inner and our outer world a de<nite boundary is drawn) aboundary which we can cross only at the moments of %oin% to sleep and wa$in%!ut we can never cross this boundary without bein% deprived of somethin%!#hen we cross the boundary on %oin% to sleep) consciousness ceases and wecannot see the spiritual world! On wa$in%) our consciousness is at once divertedto the outer world and we are unable to perceive the spiritual reality underlyin%

our own bein%! The boundary that we cross) the boundary that causes thespiritual world to be dar$ened at the moment of wa$in% is somethin% thatinterpolates itself between our Sentient Soul and our etheric and physicalbodies! The veil that covers these two members on wa$in%) the veil thatprevents us from beholdin% the spiritual reality underlyin% them) is the Sentientody) which enables us to see the tapestry presented by the outer world! At themoment of wa$in% the Sentient ody is wholly concerned with the outer world of the senses and we cannot loo$ within our own bein%! This body) therefore)constitutes a frontier between our life of inner e"perience and what spirituallyunderlies the world of the senses!#e shall realise that this is necessary) for what a man would see if he were tocross this stream consciously is somethin% that must be hidden from him in thecourse of his normal life) because he could not endure it he needs to beprepared for the e"perience! Mystical development does not really consist inpenetratin% by force into the inner world of the physical and etheric bodies) butin <rst ma$in% oneself <t for the e"perience and passin% throu%h it consciously!



#hat would happen to a man who were to descend unprepared into his owninner bein%K On wa$in%) instead of seein% an e"ternal world) he would enter intohis own inner world) into that which spiritually underlies his physical and ethericbodies! /n his soul he would e"perience a feelin% of tremendous intensity) $nownto him in ordinary life in a very faint and wea$ened form only! That is what wouldcome over a man if he were able) on wa$in% from sleep) to descend into his owninner bein%! An analo%y F without attemptin% to prove anythin% F will help you

to have an idea of this feelin%! There is in man what is called the sense of Shame) the essence of which is thatin his soul he wants to divert the attention of others from the thin% or @uality ofwhich he is ashamed! This sense of shame in connection with somethin% he doesnot want to be revealed is a faint indication of the feelin% which would beintensi<ed to overpowerin% stren%th if he were to loo$ consciously into his owninner bein%! This feelin% would ta$e possession of the soul with such power thatit would seem to be di,used over everythin% encountered in the e"ternal worldthe man would under%o an e"perience comparable with that of bein% consumedby <re! Such would be the e,ect produced by this feelin% of shame!#hy should it have this e,ectK ecause at that moment a man would becomeaware of the perfection of his physical and etheric bodies compared with whathe is as a bein% of soul! /t is also possible to form an idea of this by ordinaryreasonin%! Anyone who with the help of physical science ma$es a purelye"ternal study of the marvelous structure of the human heart or brain) or ofeach sin%le part of the human s$eleton) will be able to feel how in<nitely wiseand perfect is the arran%ement and or%anisation of the physical body! y ta$in%one sin%le bone) for e"ample the hip bone) which combines the utmost carryin%capacity with the least e"penditure of e,ort) or by contemplatin% the marvelousstructure of the heart or brain) it is possible to have an in$lin% of what would bee"perienced if one were to behold the wisdom by which this structure was

produced and were then to compare with this what man is as a bein% of soul inrespect of passions or desiresH All throu%h his life he is en%a%ed in ruinin% thiswonderful physical or%anism by yieldin% to his desires) ur%es) passions andvarious forms of en?oyment! Activity destructive to the wonderful structure ofthe physical heart or brain can be observed everywhere in life! All this wouldcome vividly before a man&s soul if he were to descend consciously into hisetheric and physical bodies! And the soul&s imperfection compared with theperfect structure of the sheaths would have an overwhelmin%ly paralysin% e,ectupon him if he were able to compare what is in his soul with what the wise%uidance of the universe has made of his physical and etheric bodies! 8e istherefore protected from descendin% into them consciously and is de-ected) on

wa$in%) by the tapestry of the senseworld outspread around him he cannotloo$ into his inmost bein%!/t is the comparison of the soul with what it would perceive if it had si%ht of whatspiritually underlies the physical and etheric bodies that would evo$e the intensefeelin% of shame preparation for this is made in advance throu%h all thee"periences under%one by the mystic before he becomes capable of penetratin%into his inmost bein%! To realise for himself the imperfection of his soul) to realisethat his soul is wea$) insi%ni<cant) and has still an in<nitely lon% path to travel)is bound to arouse a feelin% of humility and a yearnin% for perfection) and these@ualities prepare him to endure the comparison with the in<nitely wise structureinto which he penetrates on wa$in%! Otherwise he would be consumed by shameas if by <re! The mystic prepares himself by concentratin% on the followin% thou%hts: 5#hen /behold what / am and compare it with what the wise %uidance of the universehas made of me) the shame / feel is li$e a consumin% <re!7 This feelin% %ives riseoutwardly to the -ush of shame! This feelin% would intensify to such an e"tent as



to become a scorchin% <re in the soul if the mystic has not the stren%th to say tohimself: 5Des) / feel utterly paltry in comparison with what / may become) but /shall try to develop the stren%th that will ma$e me capable of understandin%what the wisdom of the universe has built into my bodily nature and to ma$emyself spiritually worthy of it!7 The mystic is made to realise by his spiritualteacher that he must have boundless humility! /t may be said to him: Loo$ at aplant! A plant is rooted in the soil! The soil ma$es available to the plant a

$in%dom lower than itself but without which it cannot e"ist! The plant can bow tothe mineral $in%dom) sayin%: / owe my e"istence to this lower $in%dom out ofwhich / have %rown! The animal too owes its e"istence to the plant $in%dom andif it were conscious of its place in the world would in humility ac$nowled%e itsindebtedness to the lower $in%dom! And man) havin% reached a certain hei%ht)should say: / could not have attained this sta%e had not everythin% below meevolved correspondin%ly!#hen a man cultivates such feelin%s in his soul) the realisation comes to himthat he has reason not only to loo$ upwards but to loo$ downwards withthan$fulness to the $in%doms below him! The soul is then <lled with this feelin%of humility and realises how in<nitely lon% is the path that leads towardsperfection! Such is the trainin% for true humility!#hat has been described above cannot of course be e"hausted by concepts andideas if that were the case the mystic would soon have mastered it! /t must bee"perienced) and only one who e"periences such feelin%s over and over a%aincan imbue bi% soul with the attitude and mood necessary for the mystic! Then) secondly) the wouldbe mystic must develop another feelin% which ma$eshim capable of endurin% whatever obstacles may lie in his path as he strivestowards perfection! 8e must develop a feelin% of resi%nation in respect ofwhatever ordeals he will have to endure in order to reach a certain sta%e ofdevelopment! Only by provin% himself victorious over pain and su,erin% for a

lon%) lon% time can he develop the stron% powers needed by his soul toovercome the inevitable sense of inferiority in face of what a wise #orldOrderhas incorporated in the etheric and physical bodies! The soul must say to itselfover and over a%ain: I#hatever pain and su,erin% still await me) / will notwaver for if / were willin% to e"perience only what brin%s ?oy) / should neverdevelop the stren%th of which my soul is actually capable!J Stren%th isdeveloped only by overcomin% obstacles) not by simply submittin% to conditionsas they are! 2orces of soul can be steeled only when a man is ready to bear painand su,erin% with resi%nation! This stren%th must be developed in the soul ofthe mystic if he is to become <t to descend into his inner bein%!Let nobody ima%ine that Spiritual Science demands that a man livin% an

ordinary) everyday life shall under%o such e"ercises for they are beyond hispower! #hat is bein% described here is simply a narration of what those whovoluntarily embar$ upon such e"periences can ma$e of the soul) that is to say)they can ma$e the soul capable of penetratin% into their own inmost bein%! /nthe course of normal life) however) the Sentient ody intervenes between whatit is possible for the mystic to e"perience inwardly and what is actuallye"perienced in the e"ternal world! That is what protects a man from descendin%into his own inner self without preparation and bein% consumed by a feelin% ofshame! /n the normal course of life a man cannot e"perience what is thusscreened from him by the Sentient ody) for there he has already reached thefrontier of the spiritual world! A spiritual investi%ator see$in% to e"plore the innernature of man must cross this frontier he must cross the stream which divertsnormal human consciousness from the inner to the outer world! This normalconsciousness) while insuciently mature) is protected from penetratin% intoman&s inner self) protected from bein% consumed in the <re of shame! Mancannot see the 3ower which protects him from this e"perience every mornin% on



wa$in%! This 3ower is the <rst spiritual ein% encountered by one who is aboutto pass into the spiritual world! 8e must pass this ein% who protects him frombein% consumed by the inner sense of shame he must pass this ein% whode-ects his inwardturned %aGe to the e"ternal word) to the tapestry of sensephenomena! Normal consciousness becomes aware of the e,ect of this ein%)but man cannot see him! 8e is the <rst ein% who must be passed by one whodesires to penetrate into the spiritual world! This spiritual ein% who every

mornin% stands before man and protects him while he is still immature fromsi%ht of his own inner self) is called in Spiritual Science) the Lesser 0uardian ofthe Threshold! The path into the spiritual world leads past this ein%!Our consciousness has thus been directed to the frontier where we can dimlydivine the e"istence of the ein% $nown to the spiritual investi%ator as theLesser 0uardian of the Threshold! 8ere already is an indication that in wa$in%life we do not see our true bein% at all! And if we call our own bein% theMicrocosm) we must add that we never see the Microcosm in its pure) spiritualform) but only the part that our own bein% reveals in the normal state! ust aswhen a man loo$s in a mirror he sees an ima%e) a picture) and not himself) so inwa$in% consciousness we do not see the Microcosm itself but a re-ected ima%eof it! #e see the Microcosm in its mirror ima%e!.o we ever see the Macrocosm in its realityK A%ain we can ta$e our start fromfamiliar e"periences) leavin% aside for the moment what a man under%oes in thecourse of the twentyfour hours of the day! #e will thin$ of the very simpleste"periences that come to a man in the outer world of the senses! /n that worldhe perceives an alternation between day and ni%hthow the Sun rises in themornin% and sets in the evenin% he perceives how the sunli%ht illumines all theob?ects around him! #hat is it) then) that man sees from sunrise until sunsetK2undamentally spea$in% he does not see the ob?ects themselves at all) but thesunli%ht which they re-ect! /n the dar$ we cannot see an ob?ect without

illumination! Let us ta$e the eye as representative of the other senses! #hat wesee durin% the day are) in reality) the re-ected rays of the Sun! This is howthin%s are from mornin% until evenin%! ut man has only a very imperfectperception of the cause which enables him to see ob?ects in the outer world atall! /f we loo$ at the Sun directly) our eyes are daGGled! The very cause to whichwe owe the faculty of perceivin% the outer senseworld) daGGles us! Thus durin%the day it is the same with the Sun outside as it is on wa$in% with our own innerself! The forces within ourselves enable us to live and to perceive the outerworld) but our attention is diverted from our own inner bein% to the outer world!/t is the same with the Sun it enables us to perceive ob?ects but daGGles uswhen we attempt to loo$ at it! Nor durin% the day can we perceive everythin%

that is connected with the Sun! #e see what the Earth reveals to us in there-ected sunli%ht!Our solar system is composed not only of the Sun but also of the planets! y daythe si%ht of them is denied us the Sun daGGles our vision not only of itself butalso of the planets! #e loo$ out into space $nowin% that althou%h the planetsare there) they evade our observation! ust as by day we are prevented fromseein% our own inner self and by ni%ht the si%ht of the spiritual world is deniedus in ordinary sleep) so) by day) when our %aGe is directed outwards) the causesof our senseperceptions are hidden from us! #hat lies behind the Sun andconnects it with the other bodies belon%in% to the solar system) with the ein%swhose outer manifestations we call Mercury) Penus) Mars) upiter) Saturn and soon F whatever livin% cooperation there is between the Sun and these heavenlybodies is hidden from us by day! #hat we perceive is the e,ect of the sunli%ht!#hen we compare this state with the state in which the world around us e"istsby ni%ht) from sunset to dawn) we can perceive in a certain way what belon%s toour solar system! #e can loo$ up to the starry heavens and amon% other stars



behold the planets at times when they are visible but while we can see them inthe ni%ht s$y) the Sun itself is invisible! #e must therefore say what by dayma$es the senseworld visible to us) by ni%ht ta$es from us the possibility ofseein% it! At ni%ht the whole of the senseworld is invisible!/s it possible to discover) in connection with the nocturnal state) somethin%analo%ous to the State of the mystic when he descends into his own inner worldK/n the modern a%e there is little consciousness of this analo%ous state) but there

is somethin% of the $ind! /t consists in the fact that) li$e the mystic) a mandevelops certain @ualities of humility and resi%nation and other feelin%s too) thenature of which we can %rasp by picturin% the simplest of them! Man has thesefeelin%s in normal lifein a wea$ form) li$e the sense of shame) but neverthelesshe has them! y enormously enhancin% these feelin%s he prepares himself tohave e"periences by ni%ht which di,er entirely from those of normalconsciousness!#e all $now that our feelin%s in sprin% are di,erent from those we have in theautumn! #hen buds are burstin% in sprin% and %ivin% promise of the beauty andsplendour of summer) the feelin%s of a healthy soul will not be the same as theyare in autumn with the approach of sprin% we feel the awa$enin% of hope! Thefeelin% is only sli%htly developed in an ordinary) normal man) but it is present)nevertheless! Towards autumn) the mood of hope and awa$enin% connected withsprin% will be transformed into one of sadness) of melancholy when we see theleaves fallin%) when we see bare) s$eletonli$e branches instead of the bri%ht-owerin% shrubs of summer) our souls are steeped in melancholy there issadness in our hearts! /n the course of the year) if we move in step with thephenomena of outer Nature) we can e"perience a cycle in our life of soul! ut asthese feelin%s are faint and feeble in normal life) man&s sensibility to thetransformations that ta$e place from sprin% to summer and autumn and fromautumn to winter is only sli%ht!

Once upon a time F and it is still so today F a pupil of spiritual $nowled%e whowas to ta$e the opposite path to that of the mystic was trained in such feelin%sin contrast to the mystic&s descent into his own inner bein%) he was tau%ht tolive with the cycle of outer Nature! 8e learnt to feel with %reat intensity) nolon%er faintly as in ordinary life) the awa$enin% of Nature and the sproutin% ofve%etation in sprin% then) when he was able to surrender himself wholly to thise"perience) the feelin% of dawnin% hope in sprin% became one of ?oyfule"ultation in summer! 8e was trained to have this e"perience of e"ultation! Anda%ain) when a man was so far advanced as to e"perience in complete selffor%etfulness the melancholy of autumn) he could pass on to e"perience afeelin% of winter) intensi<ed into a feelin% of the death of all Nature at midwinter!

Such were the feelin%s awa$ened in the pupils who had under%one trainin% inthe old Northern Mysteries) of which only the e"ternal side is still $nown and thatmerely as tradition! The pupils were trained by special methods to accompany intheir own life of feelin% the cycle of Nature throu%hout the year! All thee"periences which came to these pupils) for e"ample on Midsummer Ni%ht) wereindications of the crescendo of hope to e"ultation shared with Nature! Thefestival of Midsummer Ni%ht was intended to portray the enhancement of thefeelin% of awa$enin% in sprin% to that of ?oyous e"ultation in the superabundantlife of summer! And at the winter solstice the pupil learnt to e"perience F as anin<nitely enhanced feelin% of autumn F the decline and death of Nature!Such feelin%s can hardly be felt with e@ual stren%th by a man today! As a resultof the pro%ress of his intellectual life durin% recent centuries) presentday manhas become incapable of under%oin% the intense) overpowerin% e"perienceswhich the best representatives of the ori%inal peoples of Middle) Northern and#estern Europe were able to endure!



8avin% under%one such trainin%) the pupils who had thus intensi<ed their innere"periences found themselves possessed of a particular faculty F howeverstran%e this may sound F the faculty of seein% throu%h matter) ?ust as themystic is able to penetrate into his own inner self! They were able to see notmerely surfaces of ob?ects but they were able to %ee throu%h the ob?ects) andabove all) throu%h the Earth! This e"perience was called in the ancient Mysteries: seein% the Sun at Midni%ht!

The Sun could be seen in its %reatest splendour and %lory only at the time of thewinter solstice) when the whole e"ternal senseworld had so to spea$ died away! The pupils of the Mysteries had developed the faculty of seein% the Sun nolon%er as the daGGlin% power it is by day) but with all its daGGlin% brillianceeliminated! They saw the Sun) not as a physical but as a spiritual reality) andthey beheld the Sun Spirit! The physical e,ect of daGGlin% was e"tin%uished bythe Earth&s substance) for this had become transparent and allowed only theSun&s spiritual forces to pass throu%h! ut somethin% else of %reat si%ni<cancewas connected with this beholdin% of the Sun! The fact of which only an abstractindication was %iven yesterday) was then revealed in all its truth) namely) thatthere is a livin% interplay between the planets and the Sun inasmuch as streams-ow continually to and fro F from the planets to the Sun and from the Sun tothe planets! Somethin% was revealed spiritually that may be compared with thecirculation of the blood in the human body! As the blood -ows in livin% circulationfrom the heart to the or%ans and from the or%ans bac$ a%ain to the heart) so didthe Sun reveal itself as the centre of livin% spiritual streams -owin% to and frobetween the Sun and the planets! The solar system revealed itself as a spiritualsystem of livin% realities) the e"ternal manifestation of which is no more than asymbol! Everythin% manifested by the individual planets pointed to the %reatspiritual e"perience ?ust described) as a cloc$ points to the time of occurrencesin e"ternal life!

All that man learns to e"perience by enhancin% his sensibility withdraws) as thespiritual aspect of space) from the ordinary si%ht of day! /t is also concealed bythe spectacle presented at ni%ht! 2or what does man see at ni%ht with hisordinary 2aculties when he loo$s up to the heavensK 8e sees only the e"ternalside) ?ust as he sees only the e"ternal side of his own inner bein%! The starry s$ywe behold is the body of spiritual reality lyin% behind it! #onderful as is thespectacle of the starry s$y at ni%ht) it is nothin% but the physical body of thecosmic spirit) manifestin% throu%h this body in its movements and in its outwarde,ects! Once a%ain for ordinary human consciousness a veil is drawn overeverythin% that man would behold were he able spiritually to see throu%h thespectacle presented to him in space! ust as we are protected in ordinary life

from beholdin% our own inner bein%) we are also protected from beholdin% thespirit underlyin% the outer) material world the veil of the senseworld is spreadover the underlyin% spiritual reality! #hy should this be soK/f a man were to have direct vision of the spiritual Macrocosm without thepreparation that has been described F it is the opposite process to thatunder%one by the mystic F a feelin% of the most terrifyin% bewilderment wouldcome over him) for the phenomena are so mi%hty and aweinspirin% that theconcepts evolved in ordinary life would be @uite incapable of enablin% him toendure this utterly bewilderin% spectacle! 8e would be overcome by atremendous enhancement of the fear he otherwise $nows only in a wea$ form! ust as a man would be consumed by shame if) without preparation) he were topenetrate into his own inner bein%) he would be su,ocated by fear if) while stillunprepared) he were to confront the phenomena of the outer world he wouldfeel as thou%h he were bein% led into a labyrinth! Only when the soul hasprepared itself throu%h ideas and thou%hts which lead beyond the realm ofordinary e"perience can it prepare itself to endure the bewilderin% spectacle!



Man&s intellectual life today ma$es it impossible for him to under%o what couldat one time be under%one by individuals belon%in% to an ori%inal population ofNorthern and #estern Europe throu%h an intensi<cation of the feelin% of sprin%and autumn! /ntellectuality was by no means as %eneral in those times as it istoday! Men&s thin$in% is utterly di,erent from what it was in those olden days)when it was far less developed! ut with the %radual evolution of intellectuality)the capacity for this e"perience of Nature was lost! /t is) however) possible for

man to have it indirectly) as if in re-ection) when these feelin%s can be $indled)not by actual e"perience of the happenin%s in e"ternal Nature but by accountsand descriptions of the spiritual aspects of the Macrocosm!At the present time) therefore) it is necessary for descriptions to be providedsuch as those contained) for e"ample) in the boo$) Occult Science F an Outline)which has ?ust been published! / say this without boastin%) simply becausecircumstances ma$e it necessary! Such descriptions are of realities which cannotbe outwardly perceived) which underlie the world spiritually and can be seen byone who has under%one the re@uisite preparation! Let us suppose that such aboo$ is not read in the way that boo$s of another $ind are read today) but that itis read F as it should be F in such a way that the concepts and ideas it presentsin an unpretentious form induce in the reader feelin%s which are e"perienced inthe very %reatest intensity! Such e"periences are then similar to those that wereinduced in the old Northern Mysteries! The boo$ %ives) for e"ample) an account of the earlier embodiments of theEarth) and if read with inner participation) a di,erence of style will be reco%nisedin the descriptions of the Old Saturn) Old Sun and Old Moon conditions! ylettin% what is there said about Old Saturn wor$ upon us) we shall induce afeelin% consonant with the mood of sprin%) and in the description of the Old Sunevolution there is somethin% analo%ous to the emotion of e"ultation oncee"perienced on Midsummer Ni%ht! The description of the Old Moonevolution

may evo$e the mood of autumn and the whole style of the description of Earthevolution proper will induce a mood similar to that prevailin% when the time ofthe winter solstice is approachin%! At the ri%ht place in the description of Earthevolution an indication is %iven of the central e"perience connected with themood of Christmas! QR See pp! '(>(B in the (*>'1 edition of Occult Science Fan Outline! This $nowled%e can be %iven today in the place of e"periences which man is nolon%er capable of under%oin% because he has now risen from an earlier life infeelin% to intellectuality) to thin$in% hence it is throu%h the mirror of thin$in%that feelin%s ori%inally $indled by Nature herself must be in-uenced! This is howwritin%s should be composed if they are to convey what it is the aim of Spiritual

Science to convey) and the moods they %enerate must be consonant with thecourse of the year! Theoretical descriptions are @uite senseless for they simplylead to spiritual matters bein% re%arded ?ust as if they were recipes in a coo$eryboo$H The di,erence between boo$s on Spiritual Science and other $inds of literaturelies not so much in the fact that unusual thin%s are described but mainly in howthin%s are presented! 2rom this you will realise that the contents of SpiritualScience are drawn from deep sources and that in accordance with the mission of our time) feelin%s must be @uic$ened throu%h thou%hts! Dou will realise then thatit is also possible today to <nd somethin% that can lead a%ain out of theprevailin% confusion!Now when %uided by such principles) a man sets out alon% the path leadin% intothe labyrinth of happenin%s in the spiritual Macrocosm) this is somethin% thatwas prophetically foreshadowed amon% the ori%inal peoples of Northern Europe! The faculties enablin% them to read the %reat script of Nature were still active inthese peoples at a time when the 0ree$s had already reached a hi%h sta%e of



when he passes throu%h the one or the other portal) when he passes the Lesserand the 0reater 0uardians of the Threshold!

LECT69E 2O692AC6LT/ES O2 T8E 86MAN SO6L AN. T8E/9 .EPELO3MENT The lecture yesterday concluded with an allusion to the two frontiers withinwhich man&s normal consciousness is enclosed) and today we will be%in by

spea$in% of the re%ions lyin% beyond these frontiers! Man <nds these re%ionswhen) as the result of inner development) he passes either the Lesser or the0reater 0uardian of the Threshold! Today we shall try to ma$e clear what $ind of e"periences come to a man when)after passin% the Lesser 0uardian of the Threshold) he descends consciously intohis own inner bein%! #e $now that in ordinary life this descent occurs every dayand that at the moment of wa$in% it becomes impossible for us to perceive or beaware of our own inner bein%! To understand this it is necessary to have clearlyin mind somethin% that is essentially and inwardly connected with the whole ofman&s development!/n the course of his life man develops from one sta%e to another! Even durin% hislife between birth and death he under%oes development which leads himbeyond the initial sta%es of life when his faculties and capacities are of littleaccount) to others when they are considerably enhanced! 8ow does thisdevelopment proceed in everyday lifeK Sleepin% and wa$in% play an essentialpart! #hen we thin$ of the daily e"periences man has in his youth in connectionwith learnin% and picture how these e"periences are transformed into faculties)we must turn our minds to the condition of sleep which alone ma$es thistransformation possible!Every ni%ht on %oin% to sleep our souls ta$e with them somethin% from daily lifewhat we ta$e with us F the fruit of our e"periences F is transformed durin%

sleep in such a way that it becomes our abilities and capacities! To ta$e aconcrete e"ample! #hat e,orts we were obli%ed to ma$e day after day when wewere youn%) in order to learn to writeH ut we are not in the least aware of thosepast e"periences when we ta$e up a pen today to %ive e"pression to ourthou%hts! All our earlier e,orts to shape the letters have been transformed intothe capacity to write! The power which has transformed all these dailye"periences into the faculty of writin% is actually present in the depths of thesoul but can operate only when we ourselves are not consciously there!2rom this we may conclude that in our souls there is somethin% that is hi%herthan all our conscious life! 2orces hi%her than those available in our consciouslife become active durin% sleep e"periences are transformed into faculties and

the soul becomes more and more mature! A deeper bein% is wor$in% within us atour further development when we %o to sleep) this bein% receives the day&se"periences and remoulds them) so that in a later period of life they are at ourdisposal in the form of faculties!ut we brin% out of sleep much more than we ourselves brou%ht into it throu%hour conscious e"periences! .urin% the day we use up forces by participatin% inwhat is %oin% on around us! /n the evenin% we feel fati%ue because these forcesare e"hausted) and durin% sleep they are replenished many forces -ow into usdurin% the ni%ht other than those we have ac@uired as the result of our dailyactivity! Our life durin% sleep is therefore the source of innumerable forces weneed for wa$in% life! Thus we develop from sta%e to sta%e) but there is a de<nite limit to thisdevelopment! Every time we wa$e in the mornin% we <nd the same physical andetheric bodies) and we $now that fundamentally spea$in% we can do very littleby means of our own forces to transform these two bodies or to develop them toa hi%her sta%e! Admittedly) anyone with $nowled%e of life realises that it is



possible even for the physical body to be transformed to a certain e"tent! /f weobserve a person who for ten years has devoted himself to ac@uirin% deeper$nowled%e which he has not allowed to remain mere theory but which had laidhold of his inner life) then after those ten years we can form an idea of the innermetamorphosis that has ta$en place by comparin% his present with his earlierappearance and perceivin% how the $nowled%e ac@uired has produced a chan%eeven in his features the development which proceeded in his soul has also

helped to shape his bodily appearance! ut this outer development is verylimited) for we are confronted every mornin% with essentially the same physicaland etheric bodies) possessin% the same aptitudes as at birth! #hereas)relatively spea$in%) we can do a %reat deal to develop our powers of intellect) ofmind and of will) we can transform our outer sheaths) our physical and ethericbodies only to a sli%ht e"tent! Nevertheless inner forces must be active throu%hthe whole of life between birth and death) and these forces must be continuallyre$indled if life is to continue! #e see at the moment of death what becomes ofthe physical body when the etheric body is no lon%er wor$in% in it! The physicaland chemical forces inherent in the physical body as such assert themselvesfrom the moment of death onwards and dissolve) disinte%rate) it! That thiscannot happen durin% life is due to the etheric body) which is a faithful <%htera%ainst the disinte%ration of the physical body! At every moment our physicalbody would be ready to disinte%rate if fresh forces from the etheric body werenot continually supplied to it! The etheric or lifebody in turn receives what itneeds in this respect from still deeper inner forces) from the astral body) which isthe vehicle of happiness and %rief) of ?oy and sorrow! Thus the correspondin%inner body is perpetually wor$in% at the outer body! The outwardly visible part of us is sustained all the time by the inner forces! 8ow the astral body wor$s on theetheric body and the etheric body on the physicalthat is what a man would seeif he were able to descend consciously into the physical and etheric bodies on

wa$in% but he is diverted from this perception by e"ternal ob?ects andhappenin%s!8owever) by developin% his soul to the sta%e enablin% him to e"perienceconsciously the moment of entry into the etheric and physical bodies on wa$in%)a man can ac@uire a certain $nowled%e of what actually wor$s creatively on hisinner bein% durin% sleep!#e become conscious of the drivin% forces of our manhood when we are able todescend into our inner bein%! #hat must we do if this is to be achieved withconscious awarenessK #e must prepare ourselves in such a way that at themoment of wa$in% e"ternal impressions transmitted by the eyes) ears) and soforth) do not disturb us) do not immediately force themselves upon us! #e must

train ourselves to be able to pass out of the state of consciousness prevailin% insleep) in such a way that we are able to ward o, all e"ternal impressions! #henwe can do that we pass the Lesser 0uardian of the Threshold!#hat is it that we see if we passthrou%h the portal leadin% into our own innerbein%K As %enuine mystics we learn to $now somethin% of which hitherto we hadno notion! The descriptions %iven in most theosophical manuals of the astral)etheric and physical bodies are hardly more) if viewed from an inner point ofview) than very appro"imate indications) althou%h these can serve as pointers!0enuine $nowled%e of these bodies into which we descend on wa$in% is onlypossible as the result of a patient and prolon%ed approach from every an%le tothe %reat truths of e"istence! #e will endeavour today to penetrate into thesemysteries from one particular side!Althou%h man does not need to see the e"ternal forces which wor$ on him) helearns to $now by instinct that what is usually called the IsoulJ is @uite di,erentfrom current ideas of it! 8e learns to realise that the human soul is indeed little)but that it can be compared with somethin% very %reat also that the individual



capacities which the soul may possess are very sli%ht compared with thecapacities of that %reat ein% with whom) however) it may feel itself a$in! The$nowled%e ac@uired on descendin% into the physical and etheric bodies is thaton wa$in% we emer%e from another world in which there is a ein% a$in to ourown soul) only in<nitely mi%htier! Thus on wa$in% the human soul feelsinsi%ni<cant after passin% the Lesser 0uardian of the Threshold and may say toitself: / am paltry indeed) for if / now had within me nothin% more than / have

imparted to myself) if / had not been outpoured in the spiritual world) and if thebein%s of that world had not let forces stream into me) / should be in a state ofdire bewilderment! The soul realises its need of the forces which have streamedinto it the whole ni%ht lon% and that what has thus streamed into it is a$in to itsown three inherent forces! They are: <rstly) the #ill! Everythin% of the nature of#ill is one of the fundamental forces of the soul) the force which %uides us inthis way or that secondly) 2eelin%! This is the force which brin%s it about thatthe soul is attracted by one thin%) repelled by another) e"periences ?oy or painas the case may be thirdly) Thin$in%: the capacity to form ideas of thin%s! These three basic forces of the soul are the really valuable assets which we candevelop and elaborate between birth and death! y stren%thenin% our will webecome capable of ta$in% vi%orous and e,ective hold of life! /f we develop theforce of feelin%) we shall realise with ever %reater certainty what is ri%ht andwhat is wron% to witness ?ustice and ri%hteousness will %ive us ?oy and we shallfeel pain at the si%ht of wron%doin%! /f we develop our power of thin$in% weshall ac@uire wise understandin% of the phenomena of the world! Throu%h the whole of our life we must wor$ at these three basic forces of thesoul! ut when we wa$e in the mornin% in the condition that has been described)havin% passed the Lesser 0uardian of the Threshold) we realise that whatever@ualities of willin%) feelin% and thin$in% we can develop in our lives are tri-in%compared with the powers of Thin$in%) of 2eelin% and of #ill pervadin% the

spiritual world out of which we pass at the moment of wa$in%! #e realise toothat we need what our soul has absorbed durin% the ni%ht) for what weourselves are able to develop consciously durin% the life of day would not ta$eus very far! As a %ift from spiritual worlds) from the hi%her forces of Cosmic Thin$in%) Cosmic 2eelin% and Cosmic #ill) there must stream into us all ni%htlon% what must descend with us into our inner bein%! #hen we <rst becomeconscious of havin% absorbed Cosmic #ill) Cosmic 2eelin% and Cosmic Thin$in%)we realise that it is not we ourselves who have ac@uired these three basic forcesbut that without our cooperation they stream into us durin% sleep! 2urthermore)these three forces are transformed in our soul and assume di,erent aspects!#e become aware that what we $now in our souls as will is only a faint re-ection

of the Cosmic #ill that we brin% with us we $now that this) as it streams into us)is transformed into the force which enables us to move about) to have mobilelimbs! There streams into us the faculty which can be observed in e"ternalmanifestation when we see somebody performin% his daily wor$! #hat we drawinto ourselves from the Cosmic #ill becomes visible in the movement of ourlimbs) in our mobility! /t reveals itself as an inner force) streamin% into us! #enow $now in very truth that Cosmic #ill streams throu%h the universe andthrou%h us) that we become mobile bein%s and have independence because this#ill has streamed into us durin% sleep! Then throu%hout the day we use up thisCosmic #ill! /n ordinary life we do not feel the instreamin% of the macrocosmic#ill but when we have passed the 0uardian of the Threshold we feel it wor$in%on within us) we feel that we have become one with the Cosmic #ill) that we aremembered into the #ill of Cosmic #orlds!#hat we $now in everyday life as the power of feelin% has also been drawn froman in<nite reservoir of Cosmic 2eelin% this too streams into us and is sotransformed as to become inwardly perceptible to us) provided we are



suciently mature it is as if this Cosmic 2eelin% were permeatin% us withsomethin% comparable only with what is called li%ht! #e become inwardlyillumined what streams into us as this wor$in% of Cosmic 2eelin% is inner li%ht)althou%h without clairvoyance it is not outwardly visible as li%ht! ut a man whoha% passed the Lesser 0uardian of the Threshold realises that what is needed forhis life of inner e"perience) namely li%ht) is nothin% else than a product ofCosmic 2eelin% absorbed by him durin% sleep! 2rom this it is evident that when a

man is %iven up to his own inner life and bein%) he e"periences somethin% @uitenew about his soul) namely what his inner self is able to be as a result of all thatstreams to him out of the Macrocosm! And it is only when he feels the forces ofCosmic 2eelin% streamin% into him that the astral body is there before him as areality! The forces of thin$in% are such that they wor$ as a re%ulator between whatstreams to us as the power of movement and the inner li%ht! A certaine@uilibrium must be established between the inner li%ht ;feelin%= and the will! /fthe ri%ht relationship between the ur%e to activity and the inner li%ht weredisrupted) the bodily nature of man would not be properly provided for fromwithin! A man would be doomed to perish if either the one or the other werepresent in e"cess! Only if the true e@uilibrium has been established can man sounfold his faculties that the ri%ht forces serve his outer e"istence!So we see that the e,ects of sleep wor$ upon our inner bein% and throu%h ourouter sheaths from mornin% until evenin%) enablin% us to cope with the demandsof e"istence! #ith this in mind we can say: in truth our soul is paltry ascompared with what there is in the Macrocosm into which our bein% pours durin%sleep) yet our soul is a$in to it! The %reat universe is pervaded by Cosmic #ill)Cosmic 2eelin%) Cosmic Thin$in%) and thin$in%) feelin% and willin% unfold tohi%her and hi%her sta%es within our own soul!Another) immediately followin%) e"perience can be e"pressed by sayin%: Even

thou%h today my soul is paltry as compared with the %reat Cosmic Soul) it willeventually %row to be li$e it! My soul and its faculties of thin$in%) feelin% andwillin% are still insi%ni<cant but will eventually %row to be comparable with thismi%hty Cosmic Thin$in%) 2eelin% and #ill! This e"perience is followed by another which %ives us the certain $nowled%ethat what confronts us as the mi%hty Macrocosm was once li$e our own soul theMacrocosm too has developed out of small be%innin%s into this stupendous%reatness!A fruit of these two feelin%s in the soul of the true mystic is a thou%ht that canbe e"pressed as follows: 8ow would it have been if those ein%s who havecreated what is today outspread in the universe) who bestow so much upon us

F how would it have been if they had done nothin% in the past to promote theirown developmentK Once) in the in<nitely distant past) their forces of thin$in%)feelin% and will were ?ust as trivial as our own and today their power is such thatthey no lon%er need to receive stren%th from the Macrocosm they %ive) only%ive! #hat should we ourselves have become if they had done nothin% todevelop to these lofty sta%esK F #ithout them we could not have e"istedH /f we$now how to value our e"istence) a feelin% of in<nite than$fulness towards these%reat ein%s is born in our souls and streams throu%h and throu%h us! Every truemystic $nows this e"perience as a reality! /t cannot be compared with what isfelt in everyday life as %ratitude and is an e"perience of the very %reatestsi%ni<cance! #hat the outer world now calls Mysticism really amounts to nothin%more than a collection of phrases! The %enuine mystic $nows this e"periencewell and as$s himself: #hat would you be if the ein%s who e"isted before youand were once li$e you had not raised themselves to such hei%hts that at ni%htthey are able to let stream into you the forces you need in the bodily e"istenceinto which you will pass when you wa$e in the mornin%K Nobody who has not in



the deepest %round of his heart this feelin% of than$fulness to the Macrocosmhas become a true mystic!And another feelin% follows! F /f we today stand at the be%innin%) as thoseein%s themselves once stood) in order to achieve the %oal of our e"istencemust we not wor$ at ourselves and do everythin% possible so to transform ourpaltry thin$in%) feelin% and willin% that some day we need not only ta$e) but also%ive) and become able to pour out forces such as are poured into us when we

are %iven over to the Macrocosm durin% sleepK This feelin% is then transformedinto an overwhelmin% obli%ation to promote the development of the soul! As%enuine mystics we have the feelin%: Dou are ne%lectin% this duty unless you trywith all your mi%ht to develop the lowly powers of your soul to the hei%htrevealed to you as an attainable ideal when you %aGe consciously into themacrocosmic source of those powers! /f you do nothin% for your owndevelopment) if you resist it) then you will be helpin% to prevent other bein%sfrom developin% as you have developed you will be contributin% to the declineof the world instead of to its pro%ress!2rom this we realise that the ordinary e"periences of our soul F desires)impulses) ur%es) passions) and so on F are transformed in a remar$able way)that what we commonly $now as %ratitude becomes immeasurable than$fulnessto the Macrocosm and what we commonly feel as duty becomes a feelin% ofin<nite obli%ation! These are the feelin%s that stream throu%h us when we pass the 0uardian of the Threshold and enable us to reco%nise the astral body as a reality! /f thesefeelin%s are really alive in a man and he %ives himself up with %reater and%reater intensity to the feelin%s of than$fulness and obli%ation towards theevolvin% world) if he lets these feelin%s pulsate throu%h his soul) then the eyesof seership open in him the true form of his own astral body) which on wa$in% inhis ordinary consciousness was hitherto hidden from him) stands before bi% eyes

F the astral body that was born out of the Macrocosm! /f we are to see all thisand to realise with sucient stren%th the truth that spirit lies behind all materiale"istence) then we must pass the 0uardian of the Threshold!#e must also become aware of the reverse side of what has been described asthe %ood or li%ht side!#e have heard that the Cosmic #ill streams throu%h us as the power of activity)of movement) that Cosmic 2eelin% streams throu%h us as li%ht! /f this were notso we should not e"ist) nay we could not e"ist) as men! And now let us comparethese cosmic forces with those of the thin$in%) feelin% and will which have beendeveloped by the soul up to the present! To the eyes of spirit the e"tent to whichwe have fallen short of achievin% stren%th of will) intelli%ence in thin$in%) sound

and healthy feelin%) becomes clearly evident) especially at the moment ofwa$in% from sleep! /t is found that everythin% we have done in the way ofac@uirin% intelli%ence may be united with what streams into us as li%ht out ofthe Cosmic 2eelin%) and that what we have ne%lected in the development of ourown intelli%ence acts li$e a bra$e! The stream of Cosmic 2eelin% -owin% into usis diminished to the e"tent we have ne%lected to wor$ at the development of ourown powers of thin$in%! /f we are to ma$e pro%ress) our thin$in% must have theri%ht relationship to what we absorb into ourselves from Cosmic 2eelin%! Theoretical re-ection mi%ht easily be tempted to believe that what our humanintelli%ence ac@uires for itself corresponds to what streams into us from Cosmic Thin$in%! Only a theorist would spea$ in this way) for it is not in accordance withthe reality! Many mista$es are made by combinin% li$e with li$e! 8umanintelli%ence actually corresponds to Cosmic 2eelin% as absorbed in sleep! The%reater human intelli%ence becomes) the more is it illumined by the inner li%htthat has its source in Cosmic 2eelin%! ut dar$ness streams into this li%ht ofCosmic 2eelin% if we ne%lect the development of our thin$in%) of our



intelli%ence! /f a man is too laGy to develop his thin$in% properly the punishmentfor such sins of omission will be that dar$ness streams into the inner li%ht!#hatever a man ne%lects to do in the way of developin% his intelli%ence brin%supon him the punishment that he himself draws somethin% from his inner li%htand promotes dar$ness in it! Thus does the spirit wor$ at our inner bein%! ut someone may say: /t is a causeof %reat uneasiness that attention is be%innin% to be directed to such thin%s!

8ave human bein%s not hitherto e"isted @uite happily between the two frontiers)in the span of life that stretches between the Lesser and the 0reater 0uardian of the ThresholdK After all) the spiritual 3owers of whose e"istence people havehitherto had no in$lin%) have ta$en %ood care of their welfare could not thiscontinue as it isK F Even if they do not put it into words) people thin$ today thatthey would prefer to let life remain ?ust as it has been hitherto! They say: /f wewere to loo$ into ourselves we should become aware how li%ht and dar$nessmin%le within us! 6p to now the spiritual 3owers have ta$en care that all thisproceeds as it should if we now try to ta$e a hand) we may do harm) so we hadbetter leave it alone! F The attitude of many people today is that they will %o oneatin% and drin$in% and leave everythin% else to the %ods!/n point of fact there would be somethin% in this attitude if conditions hadremained as they were ori%inally! 6ntil their present sta%e of evolution mencould draw ade@uate forces out of sleep these were macrocosmic forces) storedup by %reat spiritual ein%s! So it was hitherto! ut in these matters we must notbe content with abstractions we must $eep strictly to reality! And the reality isthat the fundamental) spiritual conditions of our life chan%e from epoch toepoch! Those Cosmic 3owers to whom we are %iven over every ni%ht durin%sleep have from the be%innin% of human e"istence counted upon thee"pectation that li%ht will also stream upwards from human life itself to the li%htthat streams down from above! The Cosmic 3owers have no ine"haustible

reservoir of li%ht their reservoir is one from which the stream of forces willconstantly diminish unless from human life itself) throu%h e,orts to transformthin$in%) feelin% and willin% and to rise into the hi%her worlds) fresh forces) newli%ht) were to -ow bac$ into the %reat reservoir of Cosmic Li%ht and Cosmic2eelin%! #e are now livin% in the epoch when it is essential for men to beconscious that they must not merely rely upon what -ows into them fromCosmic 3owers but must themselves cooperate in the 3rocess of worldevolution!/t is no ordinary ideal that Spiritual Science is now settin% before itself it doesnot wor$ in the same way as other movements where people enthuse aboutsome ideal but are only capable of preachin% about it to others! No such impulse

is wor$in% in those who re%ard Spiritual Science as a worldmission they areprompted by the $nowled%e that certain forces in the Macrocosm are be%innin%to be e"hausted) that we are movin% towards a future when too little would -owdown from above if men did not themselves wor$ at the development of theirsouls! Such is the epoch in which we are livin%! 2or that reason Spiritual Sciencemust come into e"istence in order to induce men to replenish) from their side)the downstreamin% forces that are becomin% e"hausted! This $nowled%e is thesource from which Spiritual Science draws its impulse and if it were not for thesefacts) Spiritual Science would leave human evolution to ta$e care of itself! utSpiritual Science foresees that if in the comin% centuries there are not enou%hhuman bein%s who strive to reach the hi%her worlds) this would result in thehuman race receivin% less and less forces from above! 8uman life would witherand dry up) ?ust as a tree li%ni<es when no more livin% sap -ows throu%h it! 6ntilnow) forces from outside have been instilled into the human race! Those peoplewho live on unthin$in%ly) reco%nisin% only the outer world of the senses) $nownothin% about the chan%es that are ta$in% place behind this material world) one



of which is that because the spiritual forces are becomin% e"hausted) it isnecessary for such forces to be produced by men themselves! /f the furtherevolution of man$ind were left to those who clin% to the outer physical worldalone) universal desolation would be the result! Spiritual Science must now bepromul%ated in order that men may be able to decide themselves whether theywish or do not wish to cooperate in the necessary wor$!#e will now loo$ bac$ upon all our sins of omission) upon everythin% that acts as

an impediment in our soul to the forces -owin% into us from above! All sins ofomission in thin$in% penetrate into the inner li%ht in the form of dar$ness! Thesame applies to sins of omission in respect of feelin% and of will! 2orce andstren%th derived from Cosmic #ill) li%ht derived from Cosmic 2eelin%) order andharmony from Cosmic Thin$in% F all this is impaired by our sins of omission inrespect of feelin%) thin$in% and willin%! Thus we become aware of what is wor$in% within us! /nto all this there isinterpolated what we ourselves are with all our impotence F which is due to ourfailure to do better! /n this way we reach true self$nowled%e! #hat we havebecome on account of our sins of omission and that for which compensation hasto be made) appears li$e a dar$ shadow in a radiant picture! #hat we havefailed to become stands before the eyes of our soul and reveals itself clearly inthat it sends out its rays in three directions! The hindrances we cause to theevolutionary process throu%h what we have ne%lected in respect of our will) inrespect of our thin$in% and in respect of our feelin% F all this is revealed! /nthese three directions our imperfections become manifest! Each has somethin%de<nite to say to us!2irstly) there is the obstacle rayin% from our own will into the stream of Cosmic#ill -owin% throu%h us what we have ne%lected to do in respect of our own willnow confronts us as an obstacle! #e must say to ourselves: y everythin% youhave left undone you are fettered to the Earth&s forces of decline) to all that is

drivin% the Earth towards destruction! F Of our sins of omission in respect ofthin$in%) we say to ourselves: ecause of these sins of omission you will have nopossibility of establishin% harmony between your will and your feelin%! F And ofour sins of omission in respect of feelin%) we say to ourselves: The march ofworldevolution will pass you by as if you were not there! Dou have done nothin%to help worldevolution and it will therefore ta$e bac$ what was once bestowedupon you! Thus we see before us) distinct from each other) all the forces throu%h which weare fettered to the Earth) and we see cosmic evolution pass us by because wehave contributed nothin% towards it throu%h our own e,orts! Then we feel howthese forces which chain us to the Earth and the forces which pass us by) are

tearin% our true bein% asunder! /n this moment of passin% the Lesser 0uardian of the Threshold we feel our sins of omission to be the destroyers of our soul&se"istence! There is only one means of counteractin% this destruction) only one means canat this crucial moment enable us to stand <rm! /t is that we ourselves must ta$ea vow that nothin% shall be ne%lected in future! After all) the indications are plainenou%h! They tell us) at the moment we are passin% the Lesser 0uardian of the Threshold: These forces are dra%%in% you down therefore you must wor$ todevelop your will) to develop your powers of thin$in% and of feelin%! F #e mayeven feel %rateful to this terrifyin% vista for it ma$es possible the eventualful<llment of our vow!8avin% spo$en of the necessity of the feelin% of than$fulness and the feelin% ofobli%ation) we can now spea$ further of what is called the mystic vow! efore thespectacle of his own inade@uacy) everyone must re%ister the vow that in futurehe will wor$ at his soul to his utmost capacity in order to ma$e up for pastne%li%ence! This vow %ives life a new content) in $eepin% with true and e,ective



self$nowled%e a man no lon%er broods but wor$s actively at his own self! Thise"perience can ta$e a twofold form! As lon% as we are only aware of it as amental process) somethin% is still lac$in% in us) is still fetterin% us) and there isstill reason for cosmic evolution to pass us by! /n such a case the e"perience hasbeen in the astral body only! ut if the feelin%s of than$fulness and duty aree"perienced over and over a%ain) they will be transformed ultimately intode<nite vision which becomes an inner e"perience) and then a force) a power!

This force arises throu%h the astral e"perience bein% mirrored in the ethericbody and re-ected to us by the latter! An ima%e of ourselves is now before us asan e"ternal reality) standin% out as it were from a bac$%round! The bac$%roundshows us how the forces of li%ht and activity in which we are immersed durin%sleep wor$ into our sheaths! #hat we have made of ourselves stands out fromthis bac$%round! ust as in outer reality) animals) plants) minerals) confront us)so now our own self confronts us in its true form! Our own inner bein% becomesas it were perceptible in the outer world! 8itherto when we descended into ourown bein%) our attention was diverted to the outer world! The impressions fromthis world -owed into us) ma$in% it unnecessary for us to see what we are nowobli%ed to see) if we resolve to ta$e our share in wor$in% for the pro%ress ofman$ind!Our own inner self is portrayed as it were a%ainst this bac$%round! All thatfetters us to the Earth) all that binds us to the perishable) appears to us in astralvision as a de<nite ima%e) the ima%e of a distorted bull) dra%%in% us down! Allthe forces which otherwise produce harmony) reveal in the ima%e of a distortedlion the disharmony conse@uent upon our sins of omission in feelin%! Everythin%that passes us by as the result of our sins of omission in thin$in%) appears to usin the ima%e of a distorted ea%le! These three ima%es are permeated by thedistorted ima%e of our own self) indicatin% what we have to correct and put ri%htin the future in order to contribute to worldevolution what it re@uires of us!

Three distortions of animal forms and one of ourselves F how these threeseparate ima%es or pictures are related to one another reveals the measure ofthe wor$ lyin% ahead of us! Thus when we pass the Lesser 0uardian of the Threshold we have true self$nowled%e) for there stands before us an ima%e of what we have become thisself$nowled%e is a stimulus for our whole future life! #e shall only shrin$ fromthis e"perience F as would otherwise be very probable F if we hold the beliefthat what we do not see is not there! There are people who) when a slate fallsfrom a roof) close their eyes instead of movin% out of the way! Such people Fthey are li$e those who say they would prefer to avoid the e"periencesdescribed by Spiritual Sciencedo not want to see what is happenin%) but

nothin% is altered by the fact that they do not see itH The one and only help atthis sta%e is self$nowled%e! 8itherto the Cosmic 3owers were able to chec$ theutter distortion of the ima%e of our manhood) but in the future these Cosmic3owers will no lon%er suce! #e ourselves) in our ima%e) are the Lesser0uardian of the Threshold! /t is we ourselves who hinder the possibility ofdescent into our inner bein% we ourselves must wor$ at our own development! This $nowled%e alone ma$es it possible for the future decline of humanity intoenfeeblement to be avoided) as well as the failure to ful<l its mission on theEarth!#e have now been led in thou%ht throu%h the re%ion that may be called there%ion of our own Sentient ody into which we descend on wa$in% from sleep!ut in normal e"istence we are not aware of it because our consciousness isdiverted! /f) on wa$in%) we refuse to admit the impressions from outside) wee"perience what has been described! #e have spo$enbut only very brie-yofour astral body! #hat has now been described is the inner aspect presented bypart of our human nature) namely) our Sentient ody ;Emp<ndun%sleib=! #e



have reached the boundary where the Sentient ody borders on the Ethericody! The ima%e or picture we behold shows us what we truly are! The form wethere behold is only an ima%e but it is all that is needed! .iscussions about thenonreality of a mirrorima%e are worthless! /f a man wants to $now what hereally loo$s li$e) discussion about this is futile! #hat we behold is of course onlya re-ection) a mirrorima%e) in the etheric body) but it helps us to ac@uire self$nowled%e) and therein lies its value! Error would be%in only if the clairvoyant

were to believe the mirrorima%e to be another entity) another reality comin%towards him) if he were unaware that it is only a picture revealin% his inner self!#ere the clairvoyant to ta$e the picture to be a real bull) or some fourheadedcreature) he would be li$e a man whose nose displeases him and who) on seein%it in a mirror) tries to punch itH Thin%s must not be ta$en to be what they are not!A man who does not ri%htly understand the mirrorima%e lends himself tohallucinations! #hoever re%ards the ima%e as bein% somethin% in space and nota mirrorima%e which in fact it is) has succumbed to hallucination! eforeseership be%ins it is therefore important to have ac@uired the faculty of %raspin%the true values of thin%s throu%h reason! Clairvoyance should not be induced inanyone who would be liable to ta$e for reality what is merely a re-ection) or toconfound spiritual realities with the realities of outer) physical space! 8ence it isof %reat importance that nobody should embar$ upon %enuine spiritual trainin%without possessin% the faculty of intelli%ent thin$in% which enables him alwaysto form a correct estimate of what he is seein%! /t is not vision alone that isimportant) but also the power to appraise what is seen! #e shall encounterein%s who really do e"ist outside us) but to be%in with we e"perience only ourown astral world the pictures that have been described today are only mirrorima%es of our own inner bein% which is revealed to us as an e"ternal world! Torealise this is the outcome of self$nowled%e! As soon as a man descends intohis own inner bein% he is bound to see ima%es but it would be hallucination if

what is simply a re-ection of one&s own inner bein% were ta$en to be somethin%di,erent!Alon% the path to be described tomorrow we shall encounter spiritual ein%s) forthis path reaches down into the etheric body the same holds %ood for the paththat leads past the 0reater 0uardian of the threshold! Today) then) we have reached the point of considerin% the stream which passesinto the realm of our e"perience at the moment of wa$in%! #e have describedthe consciousness that deviates from the normal and is e"perienced by themystic when at the moment of wa$in% he diverts his attention from everythin%outside him in the world of the senses and penetrates into his inner bein%!

LECT69E 2/PE T8E E0D3T/AN MDSTE9/ES O2 OS/9/S AN. /S/SA rather dicult tas$ confronts us today but my listeners will be willin% to submitto the %reater demands made upon them if it is said at the outset that this studywill enable us durin% the ne"t few days to feel <rmer %round under our feet! /nSpiritual Science) unless we are content to remain with abstractions) we mustalso listen from time to time to information belon%in% to the hi%her re%ions ofspiritual $nowled%e! /t may also be added that our study today will in no wayconsist of deductions or theoretical inferences) but of matters which have alwaysbeen $nown to those who have penetrated more deeply into these sub?ects! #eshall therefore be dealin% with $nowled%e possessed by actual individuals!#e heard yesterday how a man would be able to <nd his bearin%s within theinner Or%anisation of his astral body if he could) on wa$in%) descend consciouslyinto this astral body and we were able to form an idea of what it means to passthe Lesser 0uardian of the Threshold! /n point of fact) what was said yesterdaywas rather hypothetical) for actually in normal life the moment never comes



when merely throu%h wa$in% a man can penetrate consciously into his innerbein%! At most he can prepare himself by mystical deepenin% for conscious entryinto his e"ternal bodily sheaths! #hat this means) and the preparation it entails)will only become clear in the course of these lectures! 2or normal consciousnessit may happen F very occasionally F that a man has such moments ofconscious awa$enin% as a result of conditions belon%in% to his previousincarnations! This can and does happen to certain individuals! They wa$e up

with a certain sense of oppression! This sense of oppression is due to the factthat the inner man) who durin% sleep felt outspread and free in the Macrocosm)returns a%ain into the prison of his body! There may also be another feelin%!6nder these abnormal conditions a man feels a better bein% at the moment ofwa$in% than durin% the course of the day he feels that there is somethin% withinhim that he mi%ht call his better self! A%ain the reason for this is that on wa$in%a feelin% has remained with him that somethin% has streamed into him durin%sleep from worlds hi%her than the world of his own sensory e"periences! Theseare feelin%s that may arise under abnormal conditions even in ordinary life andwhat has now been said can be re%arded as a con<rmation of statements madein the lecture yesterday! Nevertheless it is only the %enuine mystic to whom thee"perience can come in its full intensity! The @uestion now is whether it is possible to %o further! #hat has beene"perienced in the way described is the inner side of the astral body) of thespiritual part of man! ut it is possible to descend still more deeply) into parts ofhuman nature which manifest in ordinary life in a form less purely spiritual!Nevertheless) their foundations are spiritual) for that is true of everythin% in theouter world! The @uestion is whether it is possible to descend even further) intothe physical body) and whether there is anythin% between the astral body andthe physical body! Des) as is made clear in anthroposophical literature) betweenthe physical and the astral bodies there is the etheric body) so that in

descendin% to that level we should encounter our etheric body and perhaps alsotraces of our physical body) which otherwise we see only from without but whichwe can reco%nise from within when we penetrate into it consciously!0enerally spea$in%) however) it is not %ood) nor is it without dan%er) to ta$e afurther step in mystical deepenin% beyond those mentioned yesterday!Everythin% spo$en of then can be carried out cautiously by one who hasac@uired some $nowled%e of what is contained in the boo$ nowled%e of the8i%her #orlds and /ts Attainment or in the second part of Occult Science F anOutline! QR Notably Chapter P! nowled%e of 8i%her #orlds! Concernin% /nitiation)p! ''' in the (*>'1 edition! 6p to this point a man can pro%ress independently! To %o further alon% the path leadin% into the inner self) however) is not without

dan%er moreover it cannot be done at all in the way in which a man of thepresent day li$es to ac@uire his spiritual $nowled%e! Accordin%ly a di,erent pathto $nowled%e is chosen in our time!/n modern civilisation it is no lon%er ri%ht to ta$e the path leadin% to a deeperdescent into the inner bein% without troublin% about any other considerations! The fundamental characteristic of spiritual life today is that man subordinateshimself to a certain de%ree only and wishes to tread his path of $nowled%e in thefullest possible freedom! #e shall see that there is a path into the spiritual worldwhich ta$es this desire into full account: it is the 9osicrucian path of $nowled%e! This is the true path of modern times! /t did not e"ist in those Mysteries ofanti@uity where man was initiated into the deeper secrets of e"istence! Therewere Mysteries in which a man was simply led past the Lesser 0uardian of the Threshold into his own inner bein% and there were others in which he was ledout into the Macrocosm) necessarily in a $ind of ecstasy! These were the twomost usual paths in ancient times! The path of descent into the inner self wasfollowed especially in those places of /nitiation which are called the Mystery



eyes of the initiated priest) <rst of all himself) and then) far out beyond) many%enerations whom he felt to be his forefathers! 2or a certain time the candidatefor this /nitiation had the feelin% that he was movin% bac$wards alon% the line of his ancestors F not as if he were identical with them) but as if he were hoverin%above them F movin% bac$wards to a de<nite point) to a primeval ancestor! Then the impression faded F the impression of seein% earthly <%ures with whomhis e"istence was in some way related!

The teacher had now to ma$e clear to the candidate what it was that he hadactually seen! Only in the followin% way can this become intelli%ible! F #hen wecome into e"istence) havin% passed throu%h the spiritual world between deathand rebirth) we bear within us not only the characteristics derived from ourprecedin% life but also our inherited traits! #e are born into a family) into apeople) into a race we bear the inherited @ualities of our ancestors! These@ualities are not derived from the last incarnation but have been inherited from%eneration to %eneration! Now why is it that a man) with his inborn nature)incarnates in a particular family) in a particular people or raceK #hy) ondescendin% to birth) does he see$ out certain de<nite) inherited characteristicsK8e would never do so if he had no relation at all to them! /n point of fact he wasalready connected with these attributes lon% before his birth! /f we were to startfrom a particular individual and %o bac$ to his father) %randfather) %reat%randfather) and so on) we should <nd F if we were able to follow the line withinner vision F the inherited characteristics throu%h a whole series of%enerations) as far bac$ as one in particular) where all trace of heredity wouldvanish! The inherited characteristics are still present in their most attenuatedform until <nally they are lost alto%ether! ust as we see the inherited characteristics <nally disappearin%) so by startin%from an individual we can see how the @ualities of the son are most similar tothose of the father) rather less similar to those of the %randfather) still less

similar to those of the %reat%randfather) and so on! /n the ancient E%yptianMysteries of Osiris and /sis the priest led the candidate for /nitiation bac$ as faras the ancestor who still possessed characteristics which had been transmitted)throu%h heredity) to the pupil himself! /t was revealed to the pupil that man isconnected in a certain way with his inherited @ualities! Thus he established arelationship) spiritually) with that primeval ancestor from whom some @uality inhimself was derived! /t was also revealed to him that the human bein% spends alon% time preparin% for himself in the spiritual world the @ualities he is ultimatelyto inherit! Nor does he merely inherit them in a certain sense he actuallyinculcates them into his ancestors! 8e continues to wor$ throu%h the wholeseries of %enerations until <nally that physical body can be born towards which

he feels drawn! Stran%e as it may seem) we ourselves have wor$ed out of thespiritual world at the physical bodies of our own forefathers) in order %radually toshape and mould the attributes we <nally receive at birth as inheritedcharacteristics! These thin%s are revealed when a man descends into his own etheric body itthen becomes evident to him that the etheric body has a lon% history behind it!Lon%) lon% before enterin% e"istence throu%h birth) he was himself wor$in% inthe spiritual world at the preparation of the etheric body he now bears! 8ebe%an to wor$ at this etheric body when the most ancient ancestor from whomhe still inherits @ualities) came to the Earth! #hen it is said that man consists ofphysical body) etheric body) astral body) and so on) this is merely an indication! The only possibility of learnin% about it in %reater precision is to ac@uaintourselves with the information %iven by those who have themselves descendedconsciously into their bodily sheaths! Thus man learns to move in the re%ions throu%h which he passed beforeenterin% physical e"istence! 8e comes to $now a portion of his life before birth) a



portion which comprises centuries for centuries have elapsed since the timewhen) between his last death and present birth) he be%an to form the archetypeof his etheric body! /t was then that there was laid into his blood the <rst seed ofthose special characteristics which were pro%ressively elaborated) until theetheric body had reached the point of bein% able to absorb these characteristicsat birth!That is one side of the e"perience! #hat we inherit is a reconstruction)so to spea$) of everythin% we ourselves have had to do previously in the

spiritual world in order to be able to enter into physical e"istence! Therefore the@ualities that are concentrated as it were in the present etheric body and were%iven their stamp throu%h the fore%oin% centuries) have always been called the56pper7 F meanin% the heavenly or spiritual man! This is the technicale"pression for the fact that by penetratin% into his etheric body man learns to$now his 5upper7 nature! The e"pression 5heavenly7 or 5spiritual7 man was alsoused because it was realised that these attributes had been formed andfashioned from the spiritual world throu%h which the man had passed durin% theperiod between his last death and the present birth!And now as to the other side of the e"perience! F #hen the pupil had been ledto a certain sta%e by the priest of 8ermes) he was confronted by somethin% thatmay at <rst have seemed stran%e) but was e"plained by his teacher as aphenomenon that should not be alto%ether un$nown to him! The pupil soonreco%nised that he was bein% confronted with somethin% he himself had leftbehind) somethin% intimately connected with him) thou%h it now faced him as aforei%n entity! #hat was thisK #e shall understand it best by considerin% themoment of death in the li%ht of what spiritual investi%ation discloses! At thatmoment a man discards his physical body his E%o and astral body remain Fnamely) those members of his bein% which every ni%ht pass into the state ofsleep F and also) for a short time) what we are now tryin% to study from within)namely) the etheric body! 2or a few days after death man lives in these three

members of his bein%! ut then the main part of the etheric body passes awayfrom him li$e a second corpse! /t is always said F and / myself have constantlyindicated it F that what then departs as a second corpse is dispersed in theetheric world the man ta$es with him only an e"tract) a seed) of it into the lifehe is now be%innin% between death and his ne"t birth! #hat there passes overas a second corpse into the universal ether needs a considerable time todissolve and it is the last traces of the dissolvin% etheric body of his previouslife that the candidate for /nitiation <nds as a forei%n entity when he has passedbac$wards spiritually to the point where he arrives at the last ancestor fromwhom he has inherited any @uality! There he ma$es contact with the lastremnants of his previous etheric body! And now) if he continues the process of

/nitiation) he must penetrate as it were into this last etheric body of his) whichhe has left behind! Then he lives bac$wards throu%h further years F almost) butnot @uite as lon% as the period he previously lived throu%h until he encountershis earliest ancestor! The time is in the ratio of <ve to seven! The man now livesthrou%h a time in which he <nds) as it were in ever denser form) what confrontshim as the last remnant from his past life as it becomes more and morede<nitely formed) its resemblance to his last etheric body %rows until he <nallyreco%nises the form his etheric body had assumed at the moment of his lastdeath! And now) after this form has still further condensed) has more and moreassumed human shape) he is face to face with his last death! At that moment)for one who is initiated) there is no lon%er any doubt that reincarnation is atruth) for he has actually %one bac$ to his last death! Thus we have now come to$now what man <nds as a remnant of his last earthly life! /n spiritual science thishas at all times been called the 5Lower7 or the 5earthly7 man! The pupil nowconnected the 56pper7 with the 5Lower7 man he followed the 5Lower7 to thepoint where he reached his last life on Earth!



Thus durin% his /nitiation the pupil passed throu%h a cycle leadin% from his lastearthly life to his present earthly life! 8e united himself in an act of spiritualvision with what he had become in his previous incarnation! /n spiritual sciencethis process has always been called a 5cycle7 and it was ori%inally e"pressed bythe symbol of the sna$e bitin% its own tail! This same symbol was used inconnection with many happenin%s) amon% them for the e"perience ?ustdescribed) the e"perience under%one by one who was initiated in the Mysteries

of Osiris and /sis!Obviously) therefore) there is much more to be said about the etheric body thanmerely statin% that it is one member of man&s bein%! The essential nature of theetheric body can only become $nown by descendin% into our own inner self wethen come to $now the two bein%s who are united in every man) and we alsoreco%nise how $arma wor$s! #e are then able to e"plain to ourselves how ithappens that we enter e"istence throu%h birth in a @uite de<nite way! #e wereobli%ed as it were to wait from the precedin% death until the new birth) until theold etheric body had dissolved only then could a be%innin% be made withformin% the new one! This ma$es it evident that in fact a man has notcompletely %ot rid of the products of his dissolved etheric body! And bydescendin% into his own inner bein% he may also <nd the other part which hasactually dissolved) because he has retained an e"tract of it! /f this were not thecase it would be impossible for him to <nd any trace of it a%ain!#hen these thin%s are communicated %radually) even in public lectures onSpiritual Science) you will realise how wellfounded they are! Dou are now at thepoint where you can see the reason for the statement made) even in e"otericlectures) that an e"tract or essence of the etheric body remains! All these dataare the result of spiritual investi%ation and are based upon the deepestima%inable foundations! Thus a man has %one bac$ as far as his last death) and in followin% the process

we have heard of certain @ualities which one who is enterin% into deeper formsof mystical e"perience learns to $now throu%h his /nitiation! Desterday we heardof astral @ualities F the feelin% of in<nite %ratitude on the one side and) on theother) the feelin% of %reatly enhanced obli%ation and responsibility e"periencedby the mystic in his astral body! Today we have beard of the 56pper7 and the5Lower7 man) the 5Above7 and the 5elow7) e"perienced by the mystic when hedescends into his etheric body! The further steps on the path of /nitiation then lead the pupil to the point where)after havin% arrived in his spiritual retrospect at his last death) he can %o furtherand come to $now his last earthly life! ut a%ain this is by no means an easymatter! 6nder his teacher&s %uidance the pupil is once a%ain reminded that he

must not %o further until he has achieved complete for%etfulness of self for it isimpossible to ma$e real pro%ress as lon% as there remains any shred of personalselfconsciousness of this present incarnation) this present life between birth anddeath! As lon% as a man still calls anythin% his own he cannot attain $nowled%eof his precedin% incarnation! /n the ordinary) normal life between birth and deathhe cannot come to $now the bein% who in the precedin% incarnation was acompletely di,erent personality! 8e must be capable of re%ardin% himself assome @uite di,erent bein% F that is the important point F and yet not lose holdof himself when obli%ed to have this e"perience! 8e must be capable oftransformation to the de%ree of bein% able to feel himself slippin% as it were intoa @uite di,erent bodily sheath! 8avin% attained the de%ree of sel-essness whereeverythin% to do with the present incarnation is for%otten) and havin% utterly%iven himself up to the teacher) the pupil is then able to pass bac$ throu%h thelast incarnation from the death to the birth! Then he e"periences) not the thin%sthat were seen e"ternally durin% that last incarnation) but what he made ofhimself by his endeavours durin% that life! #hat the eyes saw) the ears heard



and what confronted him in the outer world is e"perienced in a di,erent way!#hat is now e"perienced are the e,orts he made in the by%one incarnation withthe ob?ect of advancin% a step forward!8avin% ree"perienced these e,orts the pupil is led bac$ a%ain by the teacher tohis present incarnation! The step from the previous to the present incarnation ista$en rapidly and then the pupil <nds his bearin%s a%ain! 8e now has a stran%efeelin% of bein% two personalities) as if he has brou%ht an additional one with

him from the spiritual world into his present personality! This %ives rise to thefeelin% of livin% in the physical body! A man cannot e"perience himself in thephysical body e"cept by feelin% that he has entered it with the fruits of aprecedin% incarnation!/ have repeatedly reminded you that in normal everyday life a man sees thephysical body only from outside! Now for the <rst time he realises what it meansto see the physical body from within! To see himself within his own physical bodyis only possible in the li%ht of the e"periences of his precedin% incarnation! utthat is not enou%h only little can be learned from it about the present physicalbody! #hen the teacher has brou%ht the pupil to the point of standin%consciously within his own bein% to%ether with his previous personality) he mustta$e him bac$ once a%ain over the path already followed! The pupil now retracesthe path from the penultimate birth to the penultimate death he under%oesa%ain what he e"perienced in his 56pper7 and 5Lower7 bein%) and throu%h thepenultimate death reaches bac$ to the penultimate incarnation! A sin%le cyclebrin%s him bac$ to the last incarnation only thereupon the second cycle must beunderta$en) brin%in% him bac$ to the penultimate incarnation! This %ives rise tothe feelin% of bein% a third personality who is included in the two precedin%personalities! The cycle can be repeated a%ain and a%ain) until the pupil reaches an epochlyin% far) far bac$ in the evolution of the Earth) a far distant a%e of civilisation!

Then he <nds that as an earlier personality he was incarnated in precedin%epochs of culture) for e"ample in the 0recoLatin epoch earlier still in theE%yptian) in the ancient 3ersian) in the ancient /ndian) and even further bac$ inthe Atlantean and the Lemurian epochs! There is then no more possibility ofhavin% such e"periences as have been described! A man can follow his owncourse throu%h every conceivable civilisation and race) ri%ht bac$ to thebe%innin% of his earthly evolution) to his very <rst incarnation on the Earth! Thenit is found that all the earlier incarnations continue as forces in what may becalled the inmost essence of the physical body! So you see) when it is said ine"oteric lan%ua%e that man consists of physical) etheric and astral bodies) thismeans that he consists of somethin% which) when viewed from within) seems

li$e a number of consecutive incarnations superimposed one above the other! /npoint of fact) all our incarnations are at wor$ in the inmost nature of our physicalbody! And when we spea$ of the etheric body we must bear in mind that) viewedfrom within) it appears as a cycle runnin% bac$wards from the present birth tothe last death! The @ualities and characteristics of the sheaths into which wedescend in mystical e"perience are revealed!#hen a man has retraced his course ri%ht bac$ to his <rst incarnation) hee"periences a %reat deal more as well! At this point of his retrospective ?ourneyhe discovers that in a certain epoch of the Earth&s evolution he was in an entirelydi,erent environment) that the Earth itself was @uite di,erent when he waslivin% in his <rst incarnation!#hen we loo$ out into the world today) three $in%doms of Nature confront us:the animal) plant and mineral $in%doms! #e also have these three $in%domswithin us! #e have within us the animal $in%dom because we possess an astralbody which in a certain way permeates our e"ternal) physical body with forceand ener%y we have within us the plant $in%dom because we possess an etheric



or lifebody) of which somethin% similar may be said we have the mineral$in%dom within us because we ta$e mineral substances into ourselves and letthem pass throu%h our or%anism! #hen we ascend far enou%h into the spiritualworld to reach our <rst incarnation while e"periencin% the physical body fromwithin) we become aware that at that time the Earth has ?ust reached the pointof its development when the mineral $in%dom in its present form <rst came intoe"istence and it was therefore possible for us to pass throu%h our <rst physical

embodiment because we were able to ta$e mineral substance into ourselves! Dou may say: Des) but was this mineral $in%dom not in e"istence earlier than theplant and animal $in%domsK Anyone who thin$s correctly will realise thatordinary coal is somethin% that has come from the plant <rst it was plantli$eand then became mineral! 6nder conditions di,erent from those of today theplant $in%dom could e"ist before there was a mineral $in%dom! The mineral$in%dom was a later formation! 6nder di,erent conditions the plant $in%domwas already in e"istence before there was any mineral $in%dom! The mineral$in%dom was a product of hardenin% F hardenin% of the plant $in%dom! And atthe time of the formation of the mineral $in%dom on our Earth) man had his <rstearthly incarnation! The mineral $in%dom has evolved throu%h lon% periods oftime) durin% which man has been passin% throu%h his earthly incarnations! /twas then that he <rst too$ the mineral $in%dom into himself! efore then hisbodily ma$eup was of a @uite di,erent consistency) without mineral substance!2or this reason it was at all times said in spiritual science that in its evolution theEarth pro%ressed to the point where the mineral $in%dom was formed and at thesame time man too$ the mineral $in%dom into himself!So we see how by descendin% into his own bein% deeply enou%h to have$nowled%e of his physical body from within) man comes to a point where heemer%es) comes forth from) himself! #hat else could be e"pectedK Throu%h ourastral body we are related to the animals) throu%h our etheric body to the plants

and throu%h our physical body to the minerals! No wonder that when wedescend as far as to the physical body we come upon the mineral $in%dom andpass into it! Not indeed into the mineral $in%dom as it is now) but as it was atthe time when it came into e"istence in the ancient Lemurian epoch! Ourpresent epoch followed that of Atlantis) and the Lemurian epoch precededAtlantis! efore the %reat Atlantean catastrophe the face of the Earth was @uitedi,erent from what it is today! #e lived on a %reat continent stretchin% betweenEurope and Africa on the one side and America on the other! This was theAtlantean epoch! /n a still earlier epoch the con<%uration of the Earth was a%aindi,erent! 8uman bein%swe ourselves in earlier incarnationslived on a continentstretchin% between Australia) Africa and Asia! This was ancient Lemuria) the

name also used by modern science! That was the time when man passedthrou%h his <rst incarnation and when the mineral $in%dom of the Earth too$shape! That too was the time when the present Moon in the heavens separatedfrom the Earth! Thus we have seen that by descendin% into and ac@uirin% $nowled%e of our ownbein% throu%h %enuine mystical deepenin% under the %uidance of a teacher) wealso emer%e from ourselves in a certain sense! The path leads us out ofourselves to the Mineral Earth whence we have derived our physical substance! This is the one path that / wanted to describe to you) the path which could befollowed and was indeed followed by many human bein%s in the ancientMysteries of /sis and Osiris! /t could only be followed under the %uidance of ateacher to whom the candidate for /nitiation sub?ected himself entirely! 6nlessthe individual had submitted his E%o entirely to his teacher he would never havebeen able to tread the path that has been described) for he would have come to$now only the very worst sides of his inner bein%) what he had made of himselfthrou%h his own selfsee$in% E%o!



.urin% the ne"t few days we shall describe the other path by spea$in% of theNorthern Mysteries) where man was led) not into himself but out of himself) intothe heavens! Then) as well as these two paths which owin% to the pro%ressivedevelopment of human nature and its conse@uent insistence on freedom are nolon%er suitable) we shall study the path that is ri%ht for modern humanity: the9osicrucian path!/t only remains to be said that certain later mystics strove to <nd help solely in

themselves when they had no 0uru or teacher to follow so strictly! They wereable to <nd help in a di,erent way and it is interestin% that the path they trodcan be e"plained in the li%ht of what has here been described! Thin$) fore"ample) of Meister Ec$hart) the medieval mystic! 8e was one who had noleader or teacher as did candidates in the ancient Mysteries of /sis and Osiris! The descent into his inner bein% would have been frau%ht with %reat dan%ers forhim had he persisted beyond a certain point in these e,orts to achieve innerdeepenin% by his own method! At a certain moment he could scarcely haveescaped the claims of his E%o! 2or the dan%er on this descent into a man&s innerbein% is that his E%o may assert itself for its own sel<sh aims! Lon% speechesmay be made about <ndin% the 0od within! ut people who tal$ in this vein haveusually not made much real pro%ress! /f they had) they would inevitably discoverthat the selfsee$in% E%o asserts itself with terri<c force! /t may often be foundthat such people) when followin% the ordinary conventions of life) are %ood anddecent characters) but directly they practise mystical deepenin% and i%norein-uences from outside) their inner self asserts itself! /f education has hithertomade them desire to spea$ the truth it may happen that as soon as their selfsee$in% E%o asserts its claims) they be%in to lie profusely they becomeunderhand) more intensely sel<sh than others! Such traits may often beobserved in mystics who have been badly %uided) who li$e to spea$ constantlyof the need to <nd the 5hi%her man7 within themselves! /n such cases) however)

it is not a 5hi%her man7 but a bein% inferior even by conventional standards! /tbehoves everyone to protect himself from claims made by his own selfsee$in%E%o! And mystics with %ood and healthy propensities) such as Meister Ec$hart)tried to do so! /n the E%yptian Mysteries the candidate for /nitiation was %uardedin this respect by the priest of 8ermes who had ta$en char%e of him! MeisterEc$hart had no leader or teacher in that sense of the word Tauler had one froma certain time in bi% life onwards! QR See Mysticism at the .awn of the ModernA%e) by 9udolf Steiner! The teacher who came to Tauler was $nown as theI2riend of 0od from the Oberland!J y what means did Meister Ec$hart protecthimself a%ainst the claims of his own E%oK Li$e nearly all medieval Christianmystics who had no actual 0uru because the time was approachin% when

human nature would rebel a%ainst it) Ec$hart protected himself by inducin% afeelin% of the %reatest intensity: Now you are no lon%er yourself you havebecome a di,erent bein% a bein% other than yourself is thin$in%) feelin% andwillin% within you! Let your whole self be <lled with ChristH F Ec$hart made thesayin% of 3aul a reality: INot /) but Christ in me!J 8e was one who hade"perienced this transformation he had laid aside his own self! 8e eliminatedhis E%o and felt himself <lled with a di,erent E%o! The word Entwerdun% ;as theopposite of 5becomin%7= was a beautiful e"pression used by medieval mystics!Mystics such as Meister Ec$hart) or the writer of the wor$ $nown as Theolo%ica.eutsch) let a hi%her man) a bein% able to @uic$en and inspire) spea$ in them!8ence their constant insistence that their aim was to surrender the self entirelyto the bein% they e"perienced within them!2rom this we see how with the approach of the modern a%e the medievalChristian mystics put in the place of an e"ternal 0uru) an inner leader: theChrist!



#e shall hear in the ne"t lecture what has now to be done in order that a manrooted in the spiritual life of today may <nd the path enablin% him to maintainintact the character and constitution of his soul! #e have spo$en of the pathta$en in the Northern Mysteries in order to e"perience the Macrocosm into whichman enters on %oin% to sleep! #e shall be%in tomorrow by describin% theprocess of %oin% to sleep and then pass on to spea$ of the macrocosmic spheresinto which man <nds his way throu%h methods belon%in% to the modern path of

$nowled%e leadin% into the hi%her worlds!

LECT69E S/E3E9/ENCES O2 /N/T/AT/ON /N T8E NO9T8E9N MDSTE9/ESAt the conclusion of what was said yesterday on the sub?ect of the deepermystical path) it was necessary to spea$ of the chief dan%er encountered on thispath by anyone who attempted to tread it without a leader in times before themethods of /nitiation now available) were in e"istence! /n order to indicate stillmore e"plicitly how %reat these diculties were) / want to add the followin%!#e have heard that the diculties are mainly due to the fact that on descendin%into his inner bein%) a man becomes almost entirely <lled by his e%oisticimpulses! The E%o awa$ens with a stren%th that would place everythin% in itsservice everythin% would be viewed in accordance with the colourin% %iven it bythis reinforced E%o! 2or this reason it was essential in the process of the ancient/nitiation that the stren%th of the) E%ofeelin%) the E%oconsciousness) should besubdued! The E%o had as it were to be %iven over to the spiritual leader orteacher! This sub?u%ation of the E%o was e,ected in such a way that throu%h thepower emanatin% from the spiritual leader) the E%oconsciousness of thecandidate for /nitiation was reduced) to be%in with) to onethird of its ordinarystren%th! That is a very considerable reduction) for it can be said) broadlyspea$in%) that with the e"ception of the very deepest sta%e of all) our

consciousness in sleep is reduced to about onethird! ut in the ancientMysteries the process was carried further than that the consciousness wasreduced to a @uarter of a third ;that is) to onetwelfth=) so that <nally thecandidate was actually in a condition resemblin% death! To outer observation hewas e"actly li$e a dead man!ut / must emphasise that this E%oconsciousness did not fade away intonothin%ness! That was not the case! On the contrary) only then was it possible torealise throu%h spiritual perception the intense stren%th of human e%oism foreven when E%oconsciousness was reduced to onetwelfth) a powerful force ofe%oism still came forth spiritually from the individual! And stran%e as it maysound) in order to hold in chec$ this outpourin% e%oism) to $eep a spiritual hold

on the man whose E%o was thus subdued) twelve helpers were needed for theteacher or leader! F That is one of the socalled secrets of hi%her /nitiation incertain ancient Mysteries! /t has been mentioned here only in order that a manmay $now what is found when he descends into his own inner bein%! Left to hisown resources he would develop traits twelve times worse than those hepossessed in ordinary life! These traits were held in chec$ in the ancientMysteries by the twelve helpers of the priest of 8ermes! F This is said merely tosupplement the references made at the end of the lecture yesterday! Today we will turn our minds to the other path that a man may ta$e) not bydescendin% into his inner self at the moment of wa$in%) but by consciouslye"periencin% the moment of %oin% to sleep) consciously e"periencin% thecondition durin% which he is %iven over to sleep! #e have heard how man hasthen e"panded as it were into the Macrocosm) whereas in his wa$in% state hehas plun%ed into his own bein%) into the Microcosm! #e also heard that what aman would e"perience if his E%o were to pour consciously into the Macrocosm)would be so daGGlin%) so shatterin%) that it must be re%arded as a wise



dispensation that at the moment of %oin% to sleep man for%ets his e"istencealto%ether and consciousness ceases!#hat man can e"perience in the Macrocosm openin% out before him) providedhe retains a certain de%ree of consciousness) was described as a state ofecstasy! ut it was said at the same time that in ecstasy the E%o is li$e a tinydrop min%lin% in a lar%e volume of water and disappearin% in it! Man is in thestate of bein% outside himself) outside his ordinary nature he lets his E%o -ow

out of him! Ecstasy) therefore) can by no means be considered a desirable wayof passin% into the Macrocosm) for a man would lose hold of himself and the E%owould cease to control him! Nevertheless in by%one times) particularly in certainparts of Europe) a candidate who was to be initiated into the mysteries of theMacrocosm was put into a condition comparable with ecstasy! This is no lon%erpart of the modern methods for attainin% /nitiation) but in olden times) especiallyin the Northern and #estern re%ions of Europe) includin% our own) it was entirelyin $eepin% with the development of the peoples livin% there that they should beled to the secrets of the Macrocosm throu%h a form of ecstasy! Thereby theywere also e"posed to what mi%ht be described as the loss of the E%o) but thiscondition was less perilous in those times because men were still imbued with acertain healthy) elemental stren%th unli$e people today their soulforces hadnot been enfeebled by the e,ects of hi%hly developed intellectuality! They wereable to e"perience with far %reater intensity all the hopefulness connected withSprin%) the e"ultation of Summer) the melancholy of Autumn) the deathshudderof #inter) while still retainin% somethin% of their E%o F althou%h not for lon%! /nthe case of those who were to become initiates and teachers of men) provisionbad to be made for this introduction to the Macrocosm to ta$e place in adi,erent way! The reason for this will be evident when it is remembered that themain feature in this process was the loss of the E%o! The E%o becamepro%ressively wea$er) until <nally man reached the state when he lost himself as

a human bein%!8ow could this be preventedK The force that became wea$er in the candidate&sown soul) the E%oforce) had to be brou%ht to him from outside! /n the NorthernMysteries this was achieved by the candidate bein% %iven the support of helperswho in their turn supported the ociatin% initiator! The presence of a spiritualinitiator was essential) but helpers were necessary as well! These helpers wereprepared in the followin% way! F Throu%h a special $ind of trainin%) one individual underwent with particularintensity the e"periences arisin% from inner surrender) for e"ample to thebuddin% life of nature in Sprin%! Certainly) any human bein% can have somethin%of the same feelin%) but not with the necessary intensity! Therefore individuals

were specially trained to place all their forces of soul in the service of theNorthern Mysteries) to for%o all the e"periences connected with Summer)Autumn and #inter) and to concentrate their whole life of feelin% on the buddin%life of Sprin%! Others a%ain were trained to e"perience the e"uberant life ofSummer) others the life characteristic of Autumn) others that of #inter! Thee"periences which a sin%le human bein% can have throu%h the course of theyear were distributed amon% a number) so that individuals were available who invery di,erent ways had stren%thened one aspect of their E%o! ecause they hadcultivated one force in particular to the e"clusion of all the rest) they had withinthem a super-uity of E%oforce) and now) in accordance with certain rules) theywere brou%ht into contact with the candidate for /nitiation in such a way thattheir super-uity of E%oforce was transmitted to him! 8is own E%oforce wouldotherwise have become pro%ressively wea$er! Thus the one who in the processof /nitiation was to e"perience the whole cycle of the year) lived throu%h all theseasons with e@ual intensity the E%oforce of these helpers of the initiatin%priest streamed into him so e,ectively that he was led on to a sta%e where



certain hi%her truths connected with the Macrocosm were revealed to him! #hatthe others were able to impart poured into the soul of the candidate for/nitiation! To understand such a process we must be able to form an idea of the intensedevotion and selfsacri<ce with which men wor$ed in the Mysteries in thoseolden times! The e"oteric world today has very little conception of such ferventselfsacri<ce! /n earlier times there were individuals who willin%ly developed one

side of their E%o with the ob?ect of placin% it at the service of the candidate for/nitiation and thus bein% able eventually to hear from him a description of whathe had e"perienced in a condition that was not ecstasy in the usual sense) but Fbecause e"traneous E%oforce had poured into him F a conscious ascent intothe Macrocosm! Twelve individualsthree Sprin%helpers) three Summerhelpers) three Autumnhelpers and three #interhelpers were necessary they transmitted theirspecialised E%oforces to the candidate for /nitiation and he) when he had riseninto hi%her worlds) was able to %ive information about those worlds from his owne"perience! A team or Icolle%eJ of twelve men wor$ed to%ether in the Mysteriesin order to help a candidate for /nitiation to rise into the Macrocosm! Areminiscence of this has been preserved in certain societies e"istin% today) butin an entirely decadent form! As a rule in such societies special functions arealso carried out by twelve members but this is only a last and moreover entirelymisunderstood echo of acts once performed in the Northern Mysteries for thepurposes of /nitiation!/f) then) a man endowed with an E%oforce arti<cially maintained in him)penetrated into the Macrocosm) he actually ascended throu%h worlds! QR SeeNote on terminolo%y ;at the end of this wor$= with reference to the di,erentterminolo%y employed for these worlds! The <rst world throu%h which hepassed was the one that would be revealed to him if he did not lose

consciousness on %oin% to sleep! #e will therefore now turn our attention to thismoment of %oin% to sleep as we did previously to that of wa$in%! The process of %oin% to sleep is in very truth an ascent into the Macrocosm!Even in normal human consciousness it is sometimes possible) throu%hparticularly abnormal conditions) to become conscious to a certain e"tent of theprocesses connected with %oin% to sleep! This happens in the followin% way! F The man feels a $ind of bliss and can distin%uish this consciousness of bliss @uiteclearly from the ordinary wa$in% consciousness! /t is as thou%h he becameli%hter) as thou%h he were %rowin% out beyond himself! Then this e"perience isconnected with a certain feelin% of bein% tortured by remembrance of thepersonal faults inherin% in the character durin% life! #hat arises here as a

painful remembrance of personal faults is a very faint re-ection of the feelin% aman has when he passes the Lesser 0uardian of the Threshold and can perceivehow imperfect he is and how trivial in face of the %reat realities and ein%s ofthe Macrocosm! This e"perience is followed by a $ind of convulsion F indicatin%that the inner man is passin% out into the Macrocosm! Such e"periences areunusual but $nown to many people when they were more or less conscious atthe moment of %oin% to sleep! ut a person who has only the ordinary) normalconsciousness loses it at the moment of %oin% to sleep! All the impressions ofthe day F colours) li%ht) sounds) and so on F vanish) and the man is surroundedby dense dar$ness instead of the colours and other impressions of daily life! /f hewere able to maintain his consciousness F as the trained /nitiate can do F atthe moment when the impressions of the day vanish) he would perceive what iscalled in spiritual science the Elementary or Elemental #orld) the #orld of theElements! This #orld of the Elements is) to be%in with) bidden from man while he is inprocess of %oin% to sleep! ust as man&s inner bein% is hidden on wa$in% throu%h



his attention bein% diverted to the impressions of the outer world) so) when he%oes to sleep) the nearest world to which he belon%s) the <rst sta%e of theMacrocosm) the Elementary #orld) is hidden from his perception! 8e can learn to%aGe into it when he actually ascends into the Macrocosm in the way indicated! To be%in with) this Elementary #orld ma$es him conscious that everythin% in hisenvironment) all senseperceptions and impressions) are an emanation) amanifestation of the spiritual) that the spiritual lies behind everythin% material!

#hen a man on the way to /nitiation F not) therefore) losin% consciousnesswhile passin% into sleep F perceives this world) no doubt any lon%er e"ists forhim that spiritual ein%s and spiritual realities lie behind the physical world! Onlyas lon% as he is aware of nothin% e"cept the physical world does he ima%ine thatbehind this world there e"ist all $inds of con?ectured material phenomena Fsuch as atoms and the li$e! 2or the man who penetrates into the Elementary#orld there can no lon%er be any @uestion of whirlin%) clusterin% atoms ofmatter! 8e $nows that what lies behind colours) sounds and so forth is notmaterial but the spiritual! Certainly) at this <rst sta%e of the #orld of theElements the spiritual does not yet reveal itself in its true form as spirit! Man hasbefore him impressions which) althou%h in a di,erent form from those $nown inwa$in% consciousness) are not yet the spiritual facts themselves! /t is not yetanythin% that could be called a true spiritual manifestation but to a considerablede%ree it is somethin% that mi%ht be described as a $ind of new veil over thespiritual ein%s and facts! The form in which this world reveals itself is such that the desi%nations) thenames) which since olden times have been used for the Elements are applicableto it! #e can describe what is there seen by choosin% words used for @ualitiesotherwise perceived in the physical world: solid) li@uid or -uid) airy or aeriform)or warmth or: earth) water) air) <re! These e"pressions are ta$en from thephysical world for which they are coined! Our lan%ua%e is after all a means of

e"pression for the physical world! /f therefore the spiritual scientist has todescribe the hi%her worlds) he must borrow the words from the lan%ua%e thatwas coined for the thin%s of ordinary life! 8e can spea$ only in similes)endeavourin% so to choose the words that little by little an idea is evo$ed ofwhat is perceived by spiritual vision! /n depictin% the Elementary #orld we mustnot ta$e the terms and e"pressions that are used for circumscribed ob?ects inthe physical world but those used for certain @ualities common to a cate%ory ofob?ects! Otherwise we shall lose our bearin%s! Thin%s in the physical world revealthemselves to us in certain states which we call solid) li@uid) aeriform and inaddition there is also what we become aware of when we touch the surfaces ofob?ects or feel a current of air which we call warmth!

Thin%s in the everyday world are revealed to us in these states or conditions:solid) li@uid) aecriform or %aseous) or as warmth! These) however) are always@ualities of some e"ternal body) for an e"ternal body may be solid in the form ofice or also be li@uid or %aseous when the ice melts! #armth permeates all threestates! So it is in the case of everythin% e"istin% in the outer world of the senses! The fact is there are not ob?ects in the Elementary #orld such as are found inthe physical world) but in the Elementary #orld we <nd as realities what in thephysical world are merely @ualities! #e perceive somethin% there that we feelwe cannot approach! The feelin% mi%ht be described as follows: / have beforeme somethin% F either an entity or an ob?ect of the Elementary #orld F which /can observe only by %oin% round it it has an inner and an outer side! Such anentity of the Elementary #orld is called IearthJ! Then too there are thin%s andentities which may be described as Ili@uidJ or I-uidJ! /n the Elementary #orld wecan see throu%h them) we can penetrate into them) we have a sensation similarto the sensation in the physical world of dippin% the hand into water! #e canplun%e into them) whereas what is called IearthJ is somethin% that o,ers



resistance) li$e a hard ob?ect! The second state is described in the Elementary#orld as IwaterJ! #henever mention is made of IearthJ and IwaterJ in boo$s onspiritual science) this is what is meant physical water is only an e"ternal similefor what is seen at this sta%e of development! I#aterJ is somethin% that poursthrou%h the Elementary #orld) not) of course) perceptible to the physical senses)but intelli%ible to the hi%her senses) to the faculty of spiritual perception) of the/nitiate!

Then there is somethin% in the Elementary #orld comparable with what we callIairyJ or IaeriformJ in the physical world! This is desi%nated as IairJ in theElementary #orld! Then) further) there is I<reJ or IwarmthJ) but it must berealised that what is called I<reJ in the physical world is only a simile! I2ireJ as itis in the Elementary #orld is easier to describe than the other three states forthese can really only be described by sayin% that water) air and earth are similesof them! The I<reJ of the Elementary #orld is easier to describe becauseeveryone has a conception of warmth of soul as it is called) of the warmth that isfelt) for e"ample) when we are to%ether with someone we love! #hat thensu,uses the soul and is called warmth) or <re of e"citement) must naturally bedistin%uished from ordinary physical <re which will burn the <n%ers if they comeinto contact with it! /n daily life) too) man feels that physical <re is a $ind ofsymbol of the <re of soul which) when it lays hold of us) $indles enthusiasm! ythin$in% of somethin% midway between an outer) physical <re that burns our<n%ers) and <re of soul) we reach an appro"imate idea of what is calledIelemental <reJ! #hen in the process of /nitiation a man rises into theElementary #orld) he feels as if from certain places somethin% were -owin%towards him that pervades him inwardly with warmth) while at another placethis is less the ca%e! An added complication is that he feels as if he were withinthe bein% who is transmittin% the warmth to him! 8e is united with thiselementary bein% and accordin%ly feels its <re! Such a man is enterin% a hi%her

world which %ives him impressions hitherto un$nown to him in the world of thesenses!#hen a man with normal consciousness %oes to sleep his whole bein% -ows outinto the Elementary #orld! 8e is within everythin% in that world but he ta$es hisown nature) what he is as man) into it! 8e loses his E%o as it pours forth) butwhat is not E%o F his astral @ualities) his desires and passions) his sense of truthor the reverse F all this is carried into the Elementary #orld! 8e loses his E%owhich in everyday life $eeps him in chec$) which brin%s order and harmony intothe astral body! #hen he loses the E%o) disorder prevails amon% the impulsesand cravin%s in his soul and they ma$e their way into the Elementary #orldto%ether with him he carries into that world everythin% that is in his soul! /f he

has some bad @uality) he transmits it to a bein% in the Elementary #orld whofeels drawn towards this bad @uality! Thus with the loss of his E%o he would) onpenetratin% into the Macrocosm) transmit his whole astral nature to evil bein%swho pervade the Elementary #orld! ecause he contacts these bein%s who havestron% E%os) while he himself) havin% lost his E%o) is wea$er than they) theconse@uence is that they will reward him in the ne%ative sense for thesustenance with which he supplies them from his astral nature! #hen he returnsinto the physical world they transmit to him) for his E%o) @ualities they havereceived from him and made particularly their own in other words theystren%then his propensity for evil!So we see that it is a wise dispensation for man to lose consciousness when heenters the Elementary #orld and to be safe%uarded from passin% with his E%ointo that world! Therefore one who in the ancient Mysteries was to be led intothe Elementary #orld had to be carefully prepared before forces were pouredinto him by the helpers of the /nitiator! This preparation consisted in theimposition of ri%orous tests whereby the candidate ac@uired a stron%er moral



power of selfcon@uest! Special value was attached to this attribute! /n the caseof a mystic) di,erent attributes F humility) for e"ample F were consideredparticularly valuable!Accordin%ly upon a man who was to be admitted to an /nitiation in theseMysteries) tests were imposed which helped him to rise above disasters of every$ind even in physical e"istence! 2ormidable dan%ers were laid alon% his path!ut by overcomin% these dan%ers his soul was to be so stren%thened that he

was duly prepared when bein%s confronted him in the Elementary #orld he wasthen stron% enou%h not to succumb to any of their temptations) not to let them%et the better of him but to repel them! Those who were to be admitted into theMysteries were trained in fearlessness and in the power of selfcon@uest!Once a%ain let it be said at this point that no one need feel alarmed by thedescription of these Mysteries) for nowadays such tests are no lon%er imposed)nor are they necessary) because other paths are available! ut we shallunderstand the import of the modern method of /nitiation better if we study thee"periences under%one in the past by very many human bein%s in order toachieve /nitiation into the secrets of the Mysteries!#hen the candidate in those ancient Mysteries) after lon% e"periencesconnected with the Elementary #orld) had become capable of realiGin% thatIearthJ) IwaterJ) IairJ) I<reJ F everythin% he perceives in the material world F arethe revelations of spiritual bein%s) when he had learned to discriminate betweenthem and to <nd his bearin%s in the Elementary #orld) he could be led a sta%efurther to what is called the #orld of Spirit behind the Elementary #orld! Thosewho were initiates F and this can only be described as a communication of whatthey e"perienced F now realised that in very truth there are bein%s behind the3hysical and the Elementary #orlds! ut these bein%s have no resemblance atall to men! #hereas men on the Earth live to%ether in a social order) in certainforms of society) under de<nite social conditions) whether satisfactory or the

reverse) the candidate for /nitiation passes into a world in which there arespiritual bein%s F bein%s who naturally have no e"ternal body but who arerelated to each other in such a way that order and harmony prevail! /t is nowrevealed to him that he can understand the order and harmony he perceives inthat world only by realisin% that what these spiritual bein%s do is an e"ternale"pression of the heavenly bodies in the solar system) of the relationshipbetween the Sun and the planets in their movements and positions! Therebythese heavenly bodies %ive e"pression to what the bein%s of the spiritual worldare doin%!/t has already been said that our solar system may be conceived as a %reatcosmic cloc$ or timepiece! ust as we infer from the position of the hands of a

cloc$ that somethin% is happenin%) we can do the same from the relativepositions of the heavenly bodies! Anyone loo$in% at a cloc$ is naturally notinterested in the hands or their position per se) but in what this indicates in theouter world! The hands of a cloc$ indicate) for e"ample) what is happenin% herein Pienna or somewhere in the world at this moment! A man who has to %o to hisdaily wor$ loo$s at the cloc$ to see if it is time to start! The position of the handsis therefore the e"pression of somethin% lyin% behind! And so it is in the case ofthe solar system! This %reat cosmic cloc$ can be re%arded as the e"pression ofspiritual happenin%s and of the activity of spiritual bein%s behind it!At this sta%e the candidate for the /nitiation we have been describin% comes to$now the spiritual bein%s and facts! 8e comes to $now the #orld of Spirit andrealises that this #orld of Spirit can best be understood by applyin% to it thedesi%nations used in connection with our solar system for there we have anouter symbol of this #orld of Spirit! 2or the Elementary #orld the similes areta$en from the @ualities of earthly thin%s F solid) li@uid) airy) <ery! ut for the



#orld of Spirit other similes must be used) similes drawn from the starryheavens!And now we can realise that the comparison with a cloc$ is by no means farfetched! #e relate the heavenly bodies of our solar system to the twelveconstellations of the odiac) and we can <nd our bearin%s in the #orld of Spiritonly by viewin% it in such a way as to be able to assert that spiritual ein%s andevents are realities we compare the facts with the courses of the planets but

the spiritual ein%s with the twelve constellations of the odiac! /f wecontemplate the planets in space and the Godiacal constellations) if we conceivethe movements and relative positions of the planets in front of the variousconstellations to be manifestations of the activities of the spiritual ein%s andthe twelve constellations of the odiac as the spiritual ein%s themselves) thenit is possible to e"press by such an analo%y what is happenin% in the #orld ofSpirit!#e distin%uish seven planets movin% and performin% deeds) and twelve Godiacalconstellations at rest behind them! #e conceive that the spiritual facts F thecourses of the planets F are brou%ht about by twelve ein%s! Only in this way isit possible to spea$ truly of the #orld of Spirit lyin% behind the Elementary#orld! #e must picture not merely twelve Godiacal constellations) but ein%s)actually cate%ories of ein%s) and not merely seven planets) but spiritual facts! Twelve ein%s are actin%) are enterin% into relationship with one another and ifwe describe their actions this will show what is comin% to pass in the #orld ofSpirit! Accordin%ly) whatever has reference to the ein%s must be related insome way to the number twelve whatever ha% reference to the facts must berelated to the number seven! Only instead of the names of the Godiacalconstellations we need to have the names of the correspondin% ein%s! /nSpiritual Science these names have always been $nown! At the be%innin% of theChristian era there was an esoteric School which adopted the followin% names

for the Spiritual ein%s correspondin% to the Godiacal constellations: Seraphim)Cherubim) Thrones) yriotetes) .ynameis) E"usiai) then Archai ;3rimale%innin%s or Spirits of 3ersonality=) then Archan%els and An%els! The tenthcate%ory is Man himself at his present sta%e of evolution! These names denoteten ran$s! Man) however) develops onwards and subse@uently reaches sta%esalready attained by other ein%s! Therefore one day he will also be instrumentalin formin% an eleventh and a twelfth cate%ory! /n this sense we must thin$ oftwelve spiritual ein%s!/f we wanted to describe the #orld of Spirit we should have to attribute theori%in of the spiritual universe to the cooperation amon% these twelvecate%ories of ein%s! Any description of what they do would have to deal with

the planetary bodies and their movements! Let us assume that the Spirits of #ill;the Thrones= cooperate with the Spirits of 3ersonality ;Archai= or with otherein%s F and Old Saturn comes into e"istence! Throu%h the cooperation ofother Spirits the planetary bodies we call Old Sun and Old Moon come intoe"istence!#e are spea$in% here of the deeds of these spiritual ein%s! A description of the#orld of Spirit must include the Elementary #orld) for that is the lastmanifestation before the physical world <re) air) water) earth) must also beconsidered! On Old Saturn) everythin% was <re or warmth durin% the Old Sunevolution) air was added durin% the Old Moon evolution) water! /n describin% the#orld of Spirit we must be%in with the ein%s! #e call them the 8ierarchies andpass on to their deeds which come to e"pression throu%h the planets in theircourses! And to have a picture of how all this manifests in the Elementary #orldwe must describe it by usin% terms derived from this world! Only in this way is itpossible to %ive a picture of the #orld of Spirit lyin% behind the Elementary#orld and our physical world of sense!



The ein%s) the spiritual 8ierarchies) their correspondences with the Godiacalconstellations) the planetary embodiments of our Earth described by usin%e"pressions connected with the Elementary #orldall this is presented in detailin the chapter on the evolution of the world in the boo$ Occult Science F anOutline) QR Chapter /P) Man and the Evolution of the #orld) pp! (+'''( in the(*>'1 edition! and we can now understand the deeper reasons for that chapterhavin% been written in the way it has! /t describes the Macrocosm as it should be

described! Any real description must %o bac$ to the spiritual ein%s! / tried in theboo$ Occult Science to %ive %uidin% lines for the ri%ht $ind of description of the#orld of Spirit F the world entered when there has been an actual ascent intothe Macrocosm! This ascent into the Macrocosm can of course proceed to still hi%her sta%es) forthe Macrocosm has by no means been e"haustively portrayed by what has herebeen said! Man can ascend into even hi%her worlds but it becomes more andmore dicult to convey any idea of these worlds! The hi%her the ascent) themore dicult this becomes! /f we want to %ive an idea of a still hi%her world itmust be done rather di,erently! An impression of the world that is reached afterpassin% beyond the #orld of Spirit may be obtained in the followin% way! F /ndescribin% man as he stands before us we may say that his e"istence was onlymade possible throu%h the e"istence of these hi%her worlds! Man has becomethe bein% he is because he has evolved out of the physical world but above allout of the hi%her) spiritual worlds! Only a fantasyridden) materialistic mind canbelieve that it would be possible for a man to ori%inate from the nebuladescribed by the antLaplace theory! Such a nebula could have produced onlyan automaton F never a manHAround us) we have) <rstly) the physical world! The physical body of manbelon%s to the world we perceive with our senses! #ith ordinary consciousnesswe perceive it only from outside! To what world do the more deeply lyin%)

invisible members of man&s nature belon%K They all belon% to the hi%her worlds! ust as with physical eyes we see only the material aspect of man) so too we seeof the %reat outer world only what the senses perceive we do not see thosesupersensible worlds of which two F the Elementary #orld and the #orld ofSpirit F have been described! ut man) with his inner constitution) has issuedfrom these hi%her worlds! The whole of man&s bein%) his e"ternal) bodily naturetoo) has become possible only because certain invisible spiritual ein%s havewor$ed on him! /f the etheric body alone had wor$ed on man) he would be li$e aplant) for a plant has a physical and an etheric body! Man has in addition theastral body but so too has the animal! /f man had only these three members;physical body) etheric body) astral body= he would be an animal! /t is because

man has his E%o as well that he towers above these lower creatures of themineral) plant and animal $in%doms of nature! All the hi%her members of manwor$ on his physical body the physical body could not be what it is unless manalso possessed these hi%her members! A plant would be a mineral if it had noetheric body! Man would have no nervous system if he had no astral body hewould not have his present structure) his upri%ht %ait) his overarchin% brow) ifhe had not an E%o! /f he had not his invisible members in hi%her worlds) he couldnot confront us as the <%ure he is!Now these di,erent members of man&s or%anism and constitution have beenformed out of di,erent spiritual worlds! To understand this we shall do well toremind ourselves of a beautiful) profoundly wise sayin% of 0oethe: 5The eye isformed by the li%ht for the li%ht!7 QR See 0oethe&s Studies in Natural Science!;Urschner) Nationalliteratur) Pol! 1) p! BB=! 5The eye owes its e"istence to theli%ht! Out of indi,erent animal or%ans the li%ht produces an or%an to correspondto itself and so the eye is formed by the li%ht for the li%ht so that the inner li%htmay meet the outer!7 Schopenhauer) and ant too) want to present the whole



world as man&s idea this philosophy see$s to emphasise that without an eye weshould perceive no li%ht) that without an eye there would be dar$ness around us! That) of course) is true) but the point is that it is a onesided truth! 6nless theother side is added a onesided truth is bein% re%arded as the whole truth Fthan which there is nothin% more pernicious! To say somethin% that is incorrect isnot the worst thin% that can happen) for the world itself will soon put one ri%htabout it but it is really serious to re%ard a onesided truth as the absolute truth

and to persist in so re%ardin% it! That without the eye we could see no li%ht is aonesided truth! ut if the world bad remained forever <lled with dar$ness) weshould have had no eyes! #hen animals have lived for lon% a%es in dar$ cavesthey lose their si%ht and their eyes %o to ruin! On the one side it is true thatwithout eyes we could %ee no li%ht) but on the other side it is e@ually true thatthe eyes have been formed by the li%ht) for the li%ht! /t is always essential toloo$ at truths not only from the one side but also from the other! The fault ofmost philosophers is not that they say what is false F in many ca%es theirassertions cannot be refuted because they do state truths F but that they ma$estatements which are due to thin%s havin% been viewed from one side only! /fyou ta$e in the ri%ht sense the sayin% that 5the eye is formed by the li%ht) forthe li%ht7) you will be able to say to yourselves that there must be somethin% inthe li%ht that admittedly we do not see with our eyes but that has developed theeyes out of an or%anism which at <rst had no eyes! ehind the li%ht there issomethin% hidden! Let us say here: The eyeformin% power is contained in everyray of sunli%ht! 2rom this we can realise that everythin% round about us containsthe forces which have created us! ust as our eyes are created by somethin%within the li%ht) all our or%ans have been formed by somethin% that underlieseverythin% we see in the world outside as e"ternal surfaces only!Now man also has intellect) intelli%ence! /n physical life he is able to use hisintelli%ence because he has an instrument for it! 9emember) we are spea$in%

now of the physical world) not of what becomes of our thin$in% when we are freeof the body after death) but of how we thin$ throu%h the instrument of the brainwhen we have wa$ened from sleep in the mornin% after wa$in% we see li%htthrou%h the eyes! /n the li%ht there is somethin% that has formed the eye! #ethin$ throu%h the instrument of the brain thus there must be somethin% in theworld that ha% formed the brain in such a way that it could become aninstrument of thin$in% suitable for the physical world! The brain has been madeinto an or%an of thin$in% for the physical world by the power which manifestse"ternally in our intelli%ence! ust as the li%ht we perceive with the eye is aneyeformin% power) our brain is the surface manifestation of a brainformin%power or force! Our brain is formed from out of the #orld of Spirit!

One who has attained /nitiation reco%nises that if only the Elementary #orld andthe #orld of Spirit e"isted) man&s or%an of intelli%ence could never have comeinto bein%! The #orld of the Spirit is indeed a lofty world but the forces whichhave formed the physical or%an of thin$in% must have streamed into man from ayet hi%her world in order that intelli%ence mi%ht manifest outwardly) in thephysical world!Spiritual science has not without reason <%uratively e"pressed this frontier ofthe world we have described as the world of the 8ierarchies) by the word5odiac!7 Man would be at the level of the animal if only the two worlds thathave been described were in e"istence! /n order that man could become a bein%able to wal$ upri%ht) to thin$ by means of the brain and to develop intelli%ence)an instreamin% of even hi%her forces was necessary) forces from a world abovethe #orld of Spirit! 8ere we come to a world desi%nated by a word that is totallymisused today because of the prevailin% materialism! ut in a past by no meansvery distant the word still conveyed its ori%inal meanin%! The faculty manunfolds here in the physical world when he thin$s) was called I/ntelli%enceJ in the



spiritual science of that earlier period! /t is from a world lyin% beyond both the#orld of Spirit and the Elementary #orld that forces stream down throu%h thesetwo worlds to build our brain! Spiritual Science has also called it the #orld of9eason ;Pernunftwelt=! /t is the world in which there are spiritual ein%s who areable to send down their power into the physical world in order that a shadowima%e of the Spiritual may be produced in the physical world in man&sintellectual activity! efore the a%e of materialism no one would have used the

word 5reason7 for thin$in% thin$in% would have been called intellect)intelli%ence! 59eason7 ;Pernunft= would have been spo$en of when those whowere initiates had risen into a world even hi%her than the #orld of Spirit and haddirect perception there! /n the 0erman lan%ua%e 5reason7 is connected withperception ;Pernehmen=) with what is directly apprehended) perceived ascomin% from a world still hi%her than the one denoted as the #orld of Spirit! Afaint ima%e of this world e"ists in the shadowy human intellect! The architectsand builders of our or%an of intellect must be sou%ht in the #orld of 9eason!/t is only possible to describe a still hi%her world by developin% a spiritual facultytranscendin% the physical intellect! There is a hi%her form of consciousness)namely) clairvoyant consciousness! /f we as$: how is the or%an evolved whichenables us to have clairvoyant consciousnessK F the answer is that there mustbe worlds from which emanate the forces necessary for the development of thisclairvoyant consciousness! Li$e everythin% else) it must be formed from a hi%herworld! The <rst $ind of clairvoyant consciousness to develop is a pictureconsciousness) /ma%inative Consciousness! This /ma%inative Consciousnessremains mere phantasy only for as lon% as the or%an for it is not formed byforces from a world lyin% beyond even the #orld of 9eason! As soon as we admitthe e"istence of clairvoyant consciousness we must also admit the e"istence ofa world from which emanate the forces enablin% the or%an for it to develop! Thisis the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es ;6rbilderwelt=! #hatever can arise as true

/ma%ination is a re-ection of the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es! Thus we rise into the Macrocosm throu%h four hi%her worlds: the Elementary#orld) the #orld of Spirit) the #orld of 9eason and the #orld of Archetypal/ma%es! /n the ne"t lectures / will deal with the #orld of 9eason and the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es and then describe the methods by which) in line with modernculture) the forces from the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es can be brou%ht down inorder to ma$e possible the development of clairvoyant consciousness!

LECT69E SEPEN T8E 2O69 S38E9ES O2 T8E 8/08E9 #O9L.S Desterday we tried to ac@uire a certain insi%ht into what is called the path out

into the Macrocosm) into the 0reat #orld) in contrast to what has been said inthe previous lectures about the mystical path) the path into the Microcosm! The ascent into the Macrocosm leads the candidate for /nitiation <rst of all intowhat has been called in Spiritual Science the Elementary #orld then he risesinto the #orld of Spirit) then into the #orld of 9eason and <nally into a stillhi%her world which we will call the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es ;or Archetypes=!QR See Notes on terminolo%y at the end of the lectures! /t was said that thereare no lon%er any really ade@uate e"pressions for these worlds) for modernlan%ua%e has none and the earlier 0erman word Pernunft ;reason= is now usedin a more trivial sense for somethin% that has si%ni<cance in the world of thesenses only! 8ence the old e"pression 59eason7 used for the world above the socalled 5#orld of Spirit7 mi%ht easily be misunderstood!#hatever was said in the last lecture could be no more than a s$etch it would of course be possible to spea$ of these worlds not merely for hours but for manymonths) whereas all that is possible here is to clarify our ideas of them as bestwe may! One other point shall now be mentioned) namely) that when a man rises



in the way indicated yesterday into the Elementary #orld where he has a trueperception of what are usually called the 5Elements7 F earth) water) air and <reF he also becomes aware that his own corporeality F includin% the hi%hermembers F is built out of this Elementary #orld! 8e also ac@uires $nowled%e ofsomethin% else) namely) that the outer and inner aspects of the Elementary#orld di,er somewhat from each other! Studyin% our own bein% with ordinary)normal human consciousness and not with clairvoyance) we <nd certain @ualities

which belon% partly to our soul and partly to our outer constitution these arethe @ualities of our temperament! #e classify them as the melancholic) thephle%matic) the san%uine and the choleric!/t was said yesterday that when a man passes into the Macrocosm he does notfeel as if he were confrontin% ob?ects as in physical e"istence but as if he werewithin every ob?ect in the Elementary #orld he feels united with it! #hen weloo$ at a physical ob?ect) we say: 5The ob?ect is there we are here!7 And weremain sane and reasonable bein%s in the physical world as lon% as we candistin%uish ourselves with our E%ohood @uite clearly from ob?ects and otherbein%s! ut as soon as we penetrate into the Elementary #orld this distinctionbecomes essentially more dicult because) to be%in with) we mer%e into thefacts and ob?ects and bein%s of that world! This was referred to yesterday inconnection especially with the element of <re! #e said that the <re of theElementary #orld is not physical <re but somethin% that can be compared withinner warmth of soul) inner <re of soul) althou%h it is not @uite the same! #henwe become aware of <re in the Elementary #orld it blends with us) we feel atone with it) within it! This feelin% of oneness may also arise in the case of theother elements the element 5earth7 is in a certain respect an e"ception! /n theElementary #orld what is called 5earth7 is somethin% we cannot approach)somethin% that repels us!Now stran%ely enou%h) there e"ists in the Elementary #orld a mysterious

relationship between the aforesaid four elements and the four temperaments)between the melancholic temperament and the element of 5earth7) between thephle%matic temperament and the element of 5water7) between the san%uinetemperament and the element of 5air7) and between the choleric temperamentand the element of 5<re7! This relationship is e"pressed in the fact that thecholeric man has a stron%er inclination to mer%e with bein%s livin% in the 5<re7of the Elementary #orld than with the others the san%uine man is more inclinedto mer%e with the bein%s livin% in the element of 5air7 the phle%matic man withthe bein%s livin% in the element of 5water7 and the melancholic man with thebein%s livin% in the element of 5earth7! Thus di,erent factors play a part in thee"periences of the Elementary #orld! This helps us to realise that di,erent

people may %ive entirely di,erent accounts of the Elementary #orld) and noneof them need be @uite wron% if he is relatin% his own e"periences!Anyone versed in these matters will $now that when a man with a melancholictemperament describes the Elementary #orld in his own particular way) sayin%that there is so much that repels him) this is @uite natural for his temperamenthas a hidden $inship with everythin% earthy in the Elementary #orld and heoverloo$s all the rest! The choleric man will spea$ of how <ery everythin%appears) for to him it all %lows in the elemental <re! Dou need not therefore feelany surprise if there is considerable variation in accounts of the Elementary#orld %iven by people possessed of a lower form of clairvoyance) for very e"actself$nowled%e is necessary before it is possible to describe that world as itreally is! /f a man $nows to what de%ree his temperament is choleric ormelancholic) he $nows why the Elementary #orld reveals itself in the form itdoes) and then this self$nowled%e impels him to divert his attention from thethin%s with which) because of his natural ma$eup) he has the %reatest $inship!



/t is now possible for him to ac@uire concepts of what is called in SpiritualScience) true self$nowled%e! This self$nowled%e presupposes that we are ableas it were to slip out of ourselves and loo$ at our own bein% as thou%h it were acomplete Stran%er) and that is by no means easy! /t is relatively easy to ac@uire$nowled%e of soul@ualities which we have made our own) but to %ain clearinsi%ht into the temperaments which wor$ ri%ht down into the bodily nature) isdicult! Most people in life always consider themselves in the ri%ht! /t is a very

%eneral e%oistic attitude and need not be criticised too severely) for it is aperfectly natural tendency in human bein%s! 8ow far would a man %et inordinary life if he had not this @uality of <rm selfcon<denceK ut all the @ualitiesthat belon% to his temperament %o to form it! To be detached from a particular temperament is e"tremely dicult) and weneed much selftrainin% if we are to learn to confront ourselves ob?ectively! Every%enuine spiritual investi%ator will say that no particular de%ree of maturity is anyhelp in penetratin% into the spiritual world if a man is incapable of acceptin% thefundamental principle that he can reach the truth only by i%norin% his ownopinion! 8e must be able to re%ard his own opinion as somethin% of which hemay possibly say: I/ will as$ myself at what period of life / formed this or thatde<nite opinionJ F let us suppose) for e"ample) that it had a particular politicaltrend! efore such a man can penetrate into the hi%her world he must be able toput this @uestion to himself @uite ob?ectively: I#hat is it in life that has %iven mythou%ht this particular trendK #ould my thin$in% have been di,erent if $armahad assi%ned me to some other situation in lifeKJ/f we can put this @uestion to ourselves over and over a%ain while tryin% topicture how our present personality has been produced) it becomes possible forus to ta$e the <rst step towards emer%in% from the self! Otherwise we remainpermanently enclosed within ourselves! ut in the Macrocosm it is not as easy tobe outside thin%s as it is in the physical world! /n the physical world we stand

outside a rosebush) for e"ample) because of its natural ma$eup but in theElementary #orld we %row ri%ht into the thin%s there) identify ourselves withthem! /f we are incapable of distin%uishin% ourselves from the thin%s while weare actually within them) we can never understand conditions in that world! Ourcholeric temperament) for e"ample) becomes mer%ed in the element of <re! Andwe can no lon%er distin%uish between what is -owin% from us into a bein% of theElementary #orld or from that bein% into us unless we have learned how to doso! #e must therefore <rst learn how to be within a bein% and yet to distin%uishour own identity from it! There is only one bein% who can help us here) namely) our own! /f we %raduallysucceed in ?ud%in% ourselves as in ordinary life we ?ud%e another person) then

we are on the ri%ht path! Now what is it that distin%uishes a ?ud%ment aboutoneself from a ?ud%ment about anotherK #e usually thin$ that we ourselves arein the ri%ht and that the other person) if he holds a contrary opinion) is wron%! This is what happens in the ordinary way! ut there is nothin% more useful thanto be%in to train ourselves by sayin%: I/ have this opinion) the other person has adi,erent one! / will adopt the standpoint that his opinion is ?ust as sound andvaluable as my own!J F This is the $ind of selftrainin% that ma$es it possible forus to carry into the Elementary #orld the habit that enables us to distin%uishourselves from the thin%s there) althou%h we are within them!Certain subtleties in our e"periences are necessary if we are to ascendconsciously into the hi%her worlds! This e"ample too shows what ?usti<cationthere was for sayin% in the lecture yesterday that when a man ascends into theMacrocosm he always faces the dan%er of losin% his E%o! /n ordinary life the E%ois nothin% but the a%%re%ate of opinions and feelin%s connected with ourpersonality and most people will <nd that it is e"ceedin%ly dicult to thin$) tofeel or to will anythin%) once they have ta$en leave of what life has made of



them! /t is accordin%ly very important before attemptin% an ascent into thehi%her worlds to be ac@uainted with what spiritual investi%ation has alreadybrou%ht to li%ht! /t is therefore emphasised over and over a%ain that nobody whohas had e"perience in this domain will ever help to lead another into the hi%herworlds until the latter has %rasped throu%h his reason) throu%h his ordinary)healthy faculty of ?ud%ment) that what Spiritual Science states is not nonsense!/t is @uite possible to form a sound ?ud%ment about the <ndin%s of spiritual

investi%ation! Althou%h it is not possible to investi%ate personally in the spiritualworlds without the vision of the seer) a healthy ?ud%ment can be formed as tothe correctness or incorrectness of what is communicated by those who are ableto see! On this basis we can study life and observe whether the statementsmade by the spiritual investi%ator ma$e it more intelli%ible! /f they do) then theycan be assumed to be correct!Such ?ud%ments will always have one peculiarity) namely) that we shall always)by holdin% them) transcend ordinary human ways of thin$in% in a certainrespect! /f we spea$ with unpre?udiced minds our ordinary sympathies andantipathies are discarded and we shall <nd ourselves able to be in harmonyeven with people who hold the most contrary opinions! /n this way we transcendthe ordinary way of formin% human opinions! Thus in Spiritual Science we %ainsomethin% which we retain even when we have relin@uished our ordinaryopinions and which ensures that our E%o is not immediately lost when we enterthe hi%her world for the <rst time! 2or the E%o is not lost when it is able to beactive) when it can thin$ and feel it is only when thin$in%) feelin% andperception cease that we have lost our bearin%s alto%ether! Thus a certain storeof spiritualscienti<c $nowled%e protects us from losin% our E%o! The loss of the E%o on enterin% the spiritual world would) however) have otherconse@uences in many cases! #e come here to somethin% that must be brie-ymentioned! These conse@uences often show themselves in ordinary life! /t is

important to $now about them when describin% the paths that can lead into thespiritual worlds! The spiritual investi%ator must not be in any sense a dreamer) a visionary! 8emust move with inner assurance and vi%our in the spiritual world as anintelli%ent man does in the physical world! Any nebulosity or lac$ of clarity wouldbe dan%erous on enterin% the hi%her worlds! /t is therefore so very essential toac@uire a sound ?ud%ment about the thin%s of normal) everyday life! At thepresent time especially there are factors in everyday life which could be hi%hlyobstructive on enterin% the spiritual world if no heed were paid to them! /f were-ect about our life and about in-uences that have a,ected us from birthonwards) we shall recall many thin%s even by a super<cial retrospect) but we

shall also have to admit that very much has sun$ into oblivion! #e shall have toadmit too that we have no clear or de<nite consciousness of in-uences that hada share in formin% our character and educatin% us!#ould anyone refuse to admit that many in-uences have been for%ottenK #eshall not deny havin% had some e"perience ?ust because it is not now present inour consciousness! #hy do we for%et such in-uences upon our livesK /t isbecause with each new day) life brin%s somethin% new into our path) and if wewere obli%ed to retain every e"perience we should <nally be @uite unable tocope with life and its demands! / have shown you how even in the normal courseof life our e"periences <nally coalesce into faculties! #hatever would it be li$e ifevery time we too$ up a pen we were obli%ed to relive the e"periences we hadwhen learnin% to writeH These past e"periences have ri%htly fallen into oblivionand it is well for us that this has been so!I2or%ettin%J is therefore somethin% that plays an important part in human life! There are e"periences which it is desirable for us to have under%one but whichthen fade away from our consciousness! /nnumerable impressionsparticularly



those of early childhoodsin$ into oblivion) are no lon%er in our consciousnessbecause life has caused us to for%et them! Life has obliterated them becauseotherwise we should be unable to cope with its demands! /t is %ood that we arenot obli%ed to dra% everythin% alon% with us! ut in spite of bein% for%otten)these impressions may still be wor$in% in us! There may be impressions which)althou%h they have vanished from our memory and we $now nothin% of them)are nevertheless drivin% forces in our life of soul! They may in-uence our soul

life so unfavourably that it is shattered and has a detrimental e,ect even on thebody! Many patholo%ical states) nervous conditions) hysteria and so forth) can beunderstood when it is $nown that the ran%e of the conscious life does notrepresent the full e"tent of the soul&s life! Anyone with a $nowled%e of humannature may often be able to call the attention of a person who tells him ofinnumerable thin%s that ma$e life dicult) to somethin% that he has entirelyfor%otten but is nevertheless a,ectin% his life of soul! There are IislandsJ in thelife of soul) unli$e those we come across in the sea) where we have solid %roundbeneath us! ut when in his life of soul a man comes across such an island whichori%inates from unconsciousness in-uences) he may be e"posed to all sorts ofdan%ers! /n ordinary life these islands can most easily be avoided when a manendeavours from a later point in his life to realise what has been a,ectin% him)so that he is able to form a ?ud%ment of the e"periences in @uestion! /t has avery stron% healin% e,ect if he can be %iven a worldoutloo$ enablin% him tounderstand these islands in the soul and to cope with them! /f a human soulwere led unprepared to these islands it would be thrown into utter confusion butif a person is helped to understand his own bein%) it is easier for him to deal withthem! The more understandin% we can introduce into our conscious life) thebetter it is for our everyday e"istence!Not only these unconscious islands in the soul) but many thin%s of the $indconfront one who enters into the Macrocosm! As we have heard) man enters into

the Macrocosm every ni%ht when he %oes to sleep but complete oblivionenvelops whatever he mi%ht e"perience there! Amon% the many e"periences hemi%ht have if he were to enter the Macrocosm consciously) would be thee"perience of himself! 8e himself would be there within the Macrocosm! 8e hasaround him spiritual bein%s and spiritual facts and he also has an ob?ective viewof himself! 8e can compare himself with the macrocosmic world and becomeaware of his own shortcomin%s) his own immaturity! This e"perience a,ordsabundant opportunity for him to lose his selfassurance) his selfcon<dence! 8isbest safe%uard a%ainst such loss of selfassurance is for entry into the hi%herworld to have been preceded by inner preparation) leadin% towards a maturerealisation that imperfect as he now is) there is always the possibility of

ac@uirin% faculties that will enable him to %row into the hi%her world! 8e musttrain himself to realise his imperfections and he must also be able to sustain thevision of what he may become after overcomin% these imperfections andac@uirin% the @ualities he now lac$s! This is a feelin% which must come to thehuman soul when the threshold leadin% into the Macrocosm is crossedconsciously! A man must learn to see himself as an imperfect bein%) to endurethe realisation: #hen / loo$ bac$ over my present life and into my previousincarnations) / see that it is these which have made me what / am! F ut hemust also be able to perceive not only this <%ure of himself but also another<%ure which says to him: /f you now wor$ at yourself) if you do your utmost todevelop the %erminal @ualities lyin% in your deeper nature) then you can becomea bein% such as the one standin% beside you as an ideal at which you can loo$without bein% overcome by awe or discoura%ement! This realisation is possible only if we have trained ourselves to overcome life&sdiculties! ut if) before enterin% into the Macrocosm) we have ta$en care toac@uire in the physical world the stren%th to overcome obstacles) to welcome



pain for the sa$e of %ainin% stren%th) then we have steeled ourselves to %et thebetter of hindrances and from that moment we can say to ourselves: #hatevermay happen to you) whatever may confront you in this spiritual world you willcome throu%h) for you will develop ever more stron%ly the @ualities you havealready ac@uired for the con@uest of obstacles!Anyone who has prepared himself in such a way has a very de<nite e"periencewhen he enters the Elementary #orld! #e shall understand this e"perience if we

remind ourselves a%ain that the choleric temperament is a$in to the element of<re) the san%uine to the element of air) the phle%matic to the element of waterand the melancholic to the element of earth! #hen a man passes into theElementary #orld) the bein%s of that world confront him in the form thatcorresponds with his own temperament! Thus choleric @ualities confront him asif a%low in the element of <re) and so on! ecause of his trainin% it will thenbecome evident that the stren%th of soul he has already developed triumphsover all obstacles and is also a$in to a power in the #orld of Spirit! This power isrelated to that <%ure which) %athered to%ether from all the four elements)confronts him in the #orld of Spirit in such a way that he beholds himself calmlyand @uietly as an ob?ective bein%! The outcome of the resolve in his soul toovercome all imperfections is that this imperfect 5double7 stands before him butthat the si%ht does not have the disturbin% or shatterin% e,ect it wouldotherwise have upon him! /n everyday life we are protected from this) for everyni%ht on %oin% to sleep we should be confronted by this imperfect bein% and beoverwhelmed by the si%ht if consciousness did not cease! ut there would alsobe before us that other %reat <%ure who shows us what we can become andwhat we ou%ht to be! 2or this reason consciousness is e"tin%uished when we %oto sleep! ut if we ac@uire the maturity to say to ourselves: Dou will overcome allobstacles F then the veil that falls over the soul on %oin% to sleep) is lifted! Theveil becomes thinner and thinner and <nally there stands before us F in such a

way that we can now endure it F the form that is a li$eness of ourselves as weare) and by its side we become aware of the other <%ure who shows us what wecan become by wor$in% at our development! This <%ure reveals itself in all itsstren%th) splendour and %lory! At this moment we $now that the reason why this<%ure has such a shatterin% e,ect is that we are not) but ou%ht to be) li$e it) andthat we can ac@uire the ri%ht attitude only when we can endure this spectacle! To have this e"perience means to pass the 50reater 0uardian of the Threshold!7/t is this 0reater 0uardian of the Threshold who e,aces consciousness when we%o to sleep in the ordinary way! 8e shows us what is lac$in% in us when we try toenter into the Macrocosm) and what we must ma$e of ourselves in order to beable) little by little) to %row into that world!

/t is so necessary for the men of our time to form a clear idea of these thin%s)yet they resist it! /n this respect our present a%e is involved in a process oftransition! /n theory) many people will ac$nowled%e that they are imperfectbein%s) but usually they do not %et beyond the theory!/n the spiritual life of today) if you e"amine for yourselves) you will everywhere<nd evidence of an attitude that is entirely opposed to the one of which we havespo$en! Everywhere you will hear this or that opinion e"pressed about thin%s inthe world! A%ain and a%ain you will be able to read and hear it said: 5One7 can$now this) 5one7 cannot $now that! F 8ow often we encounter this little word5one7 in modern writin%sH /n this word man has set a limit to his $nowled%ewhich he believes he is unable to overstep! #henever a person uses this littleword 5one7 in such a way) it shows that he is incapable of %raspin% the conceptof true human $nowled%e! At no moment of life should it be said that 5one7 canor cannot $now suchandsuch a thin%) but rather that 5we7 can $now only asmuch as is consonant with our faculties and present state of development andthat when we have reached a hi%her level we shall $now more! Anyone who



spea$s about limits of $nowled%e shows himself to be a person who is incapableof %raspin% even the conception of self$nowled%e) for otherwise he wouldunderstand that all of us are bein%s capable of development and so are able toac@uire $nowled%e correspondin% to the measure of our faculties at thatparticular time! The spiritual investi%ator will accustom himself) in readin% modern literature) tosubstitute 5he7 for 5one7! 2or it is the writer in @uestion who is sayin% this or

that! Thereby the writer betrays how much he $nows but it be%ins to becomedoubtful when the writer %oes further and actually puts into practice what hewrites! Theories are dan%erous only when put into practice! 2or e"ample) if sucha writer says: / $now what it is possible for a man to apprehend and %rasp so /need do nothin% in order to ma$e pro%ress !!! then he is simply puttin% obstaclesalon% the path) is bloc$in% his own development! There are) in fact) very manysuch people today! /t belon%s to the whole mode of feelin% of human bein%stoday that they actually li$e to ma$e the veil constantly dar$er over the worldwhich cannot be entered in the ri%ht way without passin% that mi%hty <%ure) the0reater 0uardian of the Threshold! This mi%hty 0uardian denies us entranceunless we ta$e this sacred vow: nowin% well how imperfect we are) we willnever cease strivin% to become more and more perfect! F Only with thisimpulse is it permissible for anyone to pass into the Macrocosm! #hoever hasnot sucient stren%th of will to continue wor$in% at himself must set aboutac@uirin% it! That is the necessary counterpart to self$nowled%e! #e must ac@uire self$nowled%e) but it would remain a sterile achievement unless it were lin$ed withthe will for selfperfectin%! Throu%h the a%es there resounds the ancientApollonian sayin%: 5now thyselfH7 That is true and ri%ht) but somethin% moremust be added to it! As was said yesterday) really erroneous ideas are notabsolutely catastrophic because life itself corrects them but onesided truths)

halftruths) present much %reater hindrances! The call for self$nowled%e mustalso be a call for constant selfperfectin%! /f we ta$e this vow to our hi%her selfwe can con<dently and without dan%er venture into the Macrocosm) for then weshall %radually learn to <nd our bearin%s in the labyrinth that inevitablyconfronts us!#e have now heard how our own nature is related to the Elementary #orld Fwe have also found that our temperaments are related to what confronts us inthat world! ut there is still somethin% else in the Elementary #orld to which@ualities of soul other than the temperaments are related! #ithin us there is thatwhich is also outside us) for we have been formed out of the world thatsurrounds us!

2rom what can be perceived in the physical world ;temperament= we must moveforward to the Elementary or Elemental #orld) and then ascend to the #orld ofSpirit! A%ain we can pass from there into a still hi%her world and of this we willspea$ brie-y! As human bein%s we pass from incarnation to incarnation! /f in thispresent incarnation we are melancholic) we can say to ourselves that in anotherincarnation F either in the past or in the future F we may have had or shallhave a san%uine temperament! The onesidedness of each temperament will bebalanced in the di,erent incarnations! 8ere we have arrived at the idea that we)as bein%s) are after all somethin% more than appears) that even thou%h now wemay be melancholic) we are somethin% else as well! As the same bein% we mayhave been choleric in an earlier life and may become san%uine in a followin%one! Our whole bein% is not contained in particular temperamental traits! Thereis somethin% else as well! #hen a clairvoyant) observin% someone in theElementary #orld) sees him as a melancholic) he must say to himself: that is atransitory manifestation) it is merely the manifestation of one incarnation! Theperson who now) as a melancholic type) represents the element of earth) will in



another incarnation represent) as a san%uine type) the element of air) or) as acholeric) the element of <re! Melancholics) with their tendency to introspectivebroodin%) repel us when viewed from the vanta%epoint of the Elementary #orldcholerics appear as if they were spreadin% -ames of <re F as an elementalforce) of course) not physical <re! To avoid misunderstandin% / must here mention that in manuals on Theosophy)the Elementary #orld is usually called the Astral #orld what we call the #orld

of Spirit in there called the lower sphere of .evachanLower .evachan! #hat isthere called the hi%her sphere of .evachan F Arupa.evachan F is here calledthe #orld of 9eason!#hen we pass from the #orld of Spirit into the #orld of 9eason we meet withsomethin% similar to what has already been e"perienced if we are revealed toourselves as bein%s who are masterin% our temperaments and developin%balance from one life to another! Thus do we approach the boundary of the#orld of Spirit! #hen we reach it we <nd spiritual facts and ein%s e"pressed asif in a cosmic cloc$ throu%h the movements of the planets! The ein%s aree"pressed in the constellations of the odiac) the facts in the planets! ut theseanalo%ies do not ta$e us very far we must pass on to the ein%s themselves Fthe 8ierarchies!Now we should be unable to form any conception of the still hi%her worlds unlesswith clairvoyant consciousness we were to pass on to the ein%s themselvestheSeraphim) Cherubim) Thrones) and so on!/n one incarnation a man may have amelancholic temperament) in another a san%uine temperament! 8is real bein% ismore than either! 8is real bein% brea$s throu%h such classi<cations! /f we arenow clear in our minds that the ein%s we desi%nate as Seraphim) Cherubim)Spirits of #ill) Thrones) and so forth) and who e"press themselves in physicalspace in the constellations of the odiac F if we are clear that these ein%s aremore than their names desi%nate) then we are be%innin% to form a true concept

of this upper boundary of the Macrocosm! A ein% who confronts us in someparticular clairvoyant e"perience) let us say as a Spirit of #isdom) does notalways remain at the same sta%e and therefore cannot always be denoted bythe same name! 2or ?ust as man develops) so do these ein%s develop throu%hdi,erent sta%es hence they must be called now by one name) now by another! The ein%s develop from sta%e to sta%e! The names may rou%hly be thou%ht ofas desi%nations of oces! /f we spea$ of Spirits of #ill or of Spirits of #isdom) itis rather as if here on Earth we were spea$in% of a councilor) privy councilor) orthe li$e the man may have been that to be%in with and then somethin% else! /nthe spiritual 8ierarchies the same ein% mi%ht at one time have been a Spirit of#isdom) at another time a Spirit of #ill) and so on) because the ein%s develop

throu%h sta%es) throu%h various ran$s! As lon% as we remain in the #orld ofSpirit they reveal themselves as Seraphim or Cherubim or of whatever ran$ itmay be! ut from the moment we become ac@uainted with the developin%ein%) from the moment we proceed beyond the title of oce to a conception ofthe actual ein% himself) we have ascended into a still hi%her realm) into the#orld of 9eason ;Pernunftreich=! The forces of this world are the builders ofman&s or%an of intelli%ence! To reach a certain sta%e of $nowled%e it is always necessary to distin%uishbetween the developin% ein%s themselves and their nature at a particularsta%e of their evolution! This must be done both in the case of ein%s at anadvanced sta%e of development who appear on Earth and of those who are onlyto be seen by clairvoyance in the #orld of Spirit!#e will ta$e the e"ample of uddha) who lived) as you $now) in the si"th centuryC! Anyone who is versed in this sub?ect must learn to distin%uish between theein% who was called 5uddha7 at that time and the desi%nation of the oce ofuddha! 3reviously) in his earlier incarnations) this ein% was a odhisattva and



M/99O9/MA0ES O2 T8E MAC9OCOSM /N MAN!9OS/C96C/AN SDMOLS! The contents of today&s lecture will be better understood if we be%in byconsiderin% once a%ain what it is that happens when man wa$es from sleep) butwe shall pay special attention now to what is wor$in% out of the spiritual world atthe buildin% up of his nature and constitution! #hen man wa$es from sleep hiswhole bein% passes out of the Macrocosm into the Microcosm! /t is @uite

understandable that in his normal consciousness he has very little $nowled%e ofthe interaction between Macrocosm and Microcosm! /n the ordinary way hesupposes that what he calls his E%o is within himself! ut in view of the fact thatwhile he is asleep he is outside his physical sheaths with his astral body and hisE%o) it is obvious that durin% the hours of sleep the E%o must certainly not besou%ht within the boundaries of the s$in but that it has poured into the worlds of which we have spo$en: the Elementary #orld) the #orld of Spirit) the #orld of9eason) and also into the still hi%her world we are to consider today F the #orldof the spiritual Archetypes of all thin%s! The E%o has poured into the cosmice"panse hence the entry into the body on wa$in% in the mornin% must not beima%ined as thou%h the E%o merely slipped bac$ into the body! A $ind ofcontraction of the E%o ta$es place on wa$in% it contracts more and more andthen passes into the physical and etheric bodies in a certain consolidated form!ut what is perceptible to clairvoyant consciousness is that the E%o is not by anymeans wholly within man durin% the hours of wa$in% consciousness! Toclairvoyant consciousness the E%o is always present in a certain way in man&senvironment and coincides only partially with what is perceived as the humanphysical body! Accordin%ly we may say that the E%o) in its substantiality) is alsoalways present around us! #hat the clairvoyant sees as a $ind of li%htaura maybe called the E%oaura! Man is always surrounded by a spiritual cloud of thisnature! The E%o is not to be loo$ed for at any particular spot but it pervades

man&s whole E%oaura! /n the mornin% the E%o approaches from all sides) fromall the ein%s and 9ealities of the worlds we have called the #orld of 9eason)the #orld of Spirit and the Elementary #orld!Now let us consider more e"actly how the E%o slips into the body) and as$ourselves: 8ow is it that on wa$in% we are suddenly surrounded with senseperceptions) such as impressions of colour and li%htK 2or e"ample) suppose the<rst senseimpression we have on wa$in% is a blue surface) the colour blue!#hat is the e"planation of this impressionK Ordinary consciousness iscompletely at sea here! The reason is that when the E%o is passin% out of theMacrocosm into the Microcosm) a $ind of barrier is created a%ainst the instreamin% spiritual forces) a%ainst everythin% we call the Elementary #orld!

Somethin% is held bac$ with the result that only a portion of the Elementary#orld -ows in! /f we see a blue surface in front of us) then) throu%h this bluesurface all these forces are -owin% in) with the e"ception of a part of theElementary #orld! The part of the Elementary #orld that is held bac$ comes intoour consciousness as a mirrorima%e) a re-ection) and this re-ection is the bluecolour! The elements of <re) air) water and earth ;spiritually conceived asbelon%in% to the Elementary #orld= stream throu%h the eye with the e"ceptionof what we actually see! Senseperception arises throu%h the fact that our eyeholds bac$ part of the li%ht from the Elementary #orld) our ear holds bac$ partof the sound) our other or%ans hold bac$ part of the <re or warmth what is notheld bac$) streams into us!#e can now supplement what was said in the previous lectures) that the 5eye isformed by the li%ht for the li%ht!7 That is to say) the eye is not formed by what is re-ected) but by what comes tous with the li%ht F and that is part of the Elementary #orld! Moreoversomethin% also streams in from the #orld of Spirit) indeed from all the worlds of



which we have spo$en! Accordin%ly we may say: At this particular point certainforces are held bac$ by the eye) and also by the other senses what does notstream into us) what is held bac$) is the sumtotal of our senseimpressions! Thus it is what we do not let throu%h that we see or hear but what we do letthrou%h is what has formed the physical or%anism of the eye) for e"ample! #ehold bac$ certain forces and allow certain others to pass throu%h F these latterbein% forces of the Elementary #orld! /f we loo$ at the eyeball in a mirror) then

too we see only what it does not let throu%h! Thus in the Elementary #orld thereare forces which have formed our sense of si%ht and also our other senses! Assensebein%s we are formed out of the Elementary #orld the world we seewhen we are able to loo$ into the Elementary #orld is the world which builds upour senses!At the inner 5wall7 of our or%an of si%ht there is a $ind of second mirror) forthere) from a further world) other forces -ow in F with the e"ception of thosethat are re-ected! There the elemental forces themselves are held bac$ andre-ected they cease to function and it is only the forces of the #orld of Spiritthat stream throu%h and are not re-ected! These are the forces that form) fore"ample) the optic nerve! ust as the eye has its optic nerve) so has the ear itsaural nerves from the forces streamin% in from the #orld of Spirit! 2rom therestream the forces of ein%s who are the builders of the whole nervous system!Our nerves are ordered accordin% to the laws of the planetary world outside) forthe planetary world is the outer e"pression of spiritual realities and spiritualworlds!/f it is the case that the #orld of Spirit wor$s at the formin% of our nervoussystem) it follows that underlyin% our nervous system there must be a certainlaw and order correspondin% to that of the solar system! Our nervous systemmust be an inner solar system) for it is or%anised from the 8eaven #orld!#e will now as$ ourselves whether this nervous system really functions as if it

were a mirrorima%e of the solar system out yonder in the Macrocosm! As you$now) our measurement of time is %overned by the relation of the planets to theSun and a%ain in the yearly cycle by the passa%e of the Sun throu%h the twelveconstellations of the odiac! That is an arran%ement of time based upon the lawcontained in the number twelve as a number which e"presses the movementsta$in% place in the solar system! There are also twelve months in the year) andin the lon%est months there are thirtyone days! That a%ain is based upon themutual relations of the heavenly bodies and is connected with our timesystem! There is a certain irre%ularity for which there is a %ood reason) but we cannot %ointo it now!Let us try to picture this remar$able timesystem in the universe and as$

ourselves how these cosmic processes would be re-ected in our nervoussystem! /f the forces underlyin% the Macrocosm are also the forces which haveformed our nervous system) we shall certainly <nd a re-ection of them inourselves and in fact we have twelve cerebral nerves and thirtyone pairs ofspinal nerves! The cosmic laws are actually re-ected in these spinal and cerebralnerves! The e"istence of a certain irre%ularity is e"plained by the fact that manis destined to be a bein% who is independent of what is %oin% on outside him! ust as the Sun&s passa%e throu%h the constellations of the odiac ta$es place intwelve months) and this is re-ected in the twelve cerebral nerves) so the days of the month are re%ulated in accordance with the circuit of the Moon F twentyei%ht days! 8ow is the connection of the thirtyone days in the month with thehuman nervous system to be e"plainedK #e have three additional pairs ofnerves) i!e! thirtyone in all) which ma$es us independent bein%s otherwise heretoo we should be %overned by the number twentyei%ht! 8ere you can %limpse adeep mystery) a wonderful connection between our nervous system and what is



Outline ;Chapter P=! /t comes about by picturin% the 9oseCross! 8ow should weproceed in order to have as a true e"perience within us this mental picture ofthe 9oseCrossKA pupil who aspires to be led to hi%her sta%es of $nowled%e would be told by histeacher to contemplate) as a be%innin%) how a plant %rows out of the soil) how itforms stem) leaves) -ower and fruit! Throu%h the whole structure -ows the%reen sap! Now compare this plant with a human bein%! lood -ows throu%h the

human bein% and is the outer e"pression of impulses) appetites and passionsbecause man is endowed with an E%o he appears to us as a bein% hi%her thanthe plant! Only a fantastic mindalthou%h there are many such F could believethat the plant has consciousness similar to that of man and could re-ectimpressions inwardly! Consciousness arises) not throu%h the e"ercise of activitybut because an impression is re-ected inwardly) and this) man F but not theplant F is able to do! Thus in a certain respect man has reached a hi%her sta%eof development than the plant but at the cost of the possibility of errin%! Theplant is not liable to error) neither has it a hi%her and a lower nature! /t has noimpulses or appetites that de%rade it! #e may well be impressed by the chastityof the plant in contrast to the impulses) desires and passions of man! #ith hisred blood man e"ists as a bein% who) in respect of his consciousness) hasdeveloped to a hi%her sta%e than the plant but at the cost of a certaindeterioration!All this would be made clear to an aspirant for hi%her $nowled%e! The teacherwould tell him that he must now attain what) at a lower sta%e) the plant revealsto him he must %ain the mastery over his appetites) impulses and so forth! 8ewill achieve this mastery when his hi%her nature has won the victory over thelower) when his red blood has become as chaste as the sap of the plant when itreddens in the rose! And so the red rose can be for us a symbol of what man&sblood will become when he masters his lower nature! #e see the rose as an

emblem) a symbol of the puri<ed blood!And if we associate the wreath of roses with the dead) blac$) wooden cross) withwhat the plant leaves behind when it dies) then we have in the 9oseCross asymbol of man&s victory of the hi%her) puri<ed nature over the lower! /n man)unli$e the plant) the lower nature must be overcome! The red rose can be for usa symbol of the puri<ed red blood! ut the rest of the plant cannot be anemblem in this sense for there we must picture that the sap and %reenness ofthe plant have li%ni<ed! /n the blac$ wooden cross we have therefore theemblem of the van@uished lower nature) in the roses the emblem of thedevelopment of the hi%her nature! The 9oseCross is an emblem of man&sdevelopment as it proceeds in the world! F This is not an abstract concept but

somethin% that can be felt and e"perienced as actual development! The soul can%low with warmth at the picture of development presented in the symbol of the9oseCross! This shows that man can have mental pictures which do not correspond to anye"ternal reality! Those who are desirous of havin% normal consciousness only)where the mental pictures always represent some e"ternal reality) will spea$derisively of the 9oseCross symbol and insist that mental pictures are false ifthey represent no e"ternal fact! Such people will as$: wherever is there any suchthin% as the 9oseCrossK .o red roses ever %row on dead woodK F ut the wholepoint is that we shall ac@uire a faculty of soul that is not present in normalconsciousness that we shall become capable of elaboratin% mental ima%es andconceptions which have a certain relation to the outer world but yet are notreplicas of it! The 9oseCross is related in a certain respect to the outer world)but it is we ourselves who have created the nature of this relationship! #e havecontemplated the plant and the ascendancy attained by man and we picture thisto ourselves in the ima%e of the 9oseCross! Then we inscribe this symbol into



our world of mental pictures and ideas! The same could be done with othersymbols!/n order that we may understand one another fully) / will spea$ about anothersymbol! Let us thin$ of the ordinary life of a man throu%h the days of hise"istence! .ay alternates with ni%ht) wa$in% with sleepin%! .urin% the day wehave a number of e"periences durin% the ni%ht) without our bein% conscious ofit) forces are drawn from the spiritual world! ust as we have e"periences in our

conscious life) in the ni%ht we have e"periences in the subconscious re%ion ofour bein%! /f with the ob?ect of ac@uirin% $nowled%e we ta$e stoc$ of our innerlife from time to time) we certainly as$ ourselves the @uestion: #hat pro%ressam / ma$in%K 8as every e"perience durin% the day actually brou%ht me a stepforwardK F There are %rounds for a man to feel satis<ed if he ma$es only asli%ht advance every day) havin% his daily e"periences and derivin% newstren%th at ni%ht! A %reat deal must) of course) be e"perienced every day if he isactually to become more mature! As$ yourselves what pro%ress you have madein this respect in a sin%le day! Dou will <nd that in spite of! innumerablee"periences the advance made by the E%o from one day to the ne"t is a veryslow process in many cases and a %reat many e"periences are unnoticed! /f)however) we loo$ bac$ to the most favourable period of our life) to childhood) wesee how rapidly the child advances in comparison what is achieved in later life! There are %ood %rounds for statin% that a traveler who devotes his wholeener%ies to ?ourneys round the %lobe in order to ma$e pro%ress throu%h theac@uisition of $nowled%e does not advance as far as a child advances throu%hwhat he has learned from his nurse! The advance made by the E%o can be indicated by a serpentine spiral! Twoserpent forms) one li%ht and one dar$) wind around a vertical sta,! The li%htcurves represent the e"periences of the day) the dar$ curves the forces wor$in%durin% the ni%ht! The vertical line indicates the advances made! 8ere) then) we

have a di,erent symbol representin% the life of man!#e can ma$e both complicated and simple symbols! The followin% would be ane"ample of a simple one! F /f we concentrate on a plant %rowin% until the seedis formed and then %radually witherin% until everythin% e"cept the seed hasvanished) we can visualise this as a @uite simple symbol of %rowth and decay!/n the 9oseCross we have a symbol of man&s development from his presentsta%e to his puri<cation in the Sta, of Mercury we have a symbol of man&sdevelopment throu%h the e"periences of day and ni%ht and the advance madeby the E%o! F Symbol after symbol can be created in this way!.ia%ram (None of them mirrors any e"ternal reality but by surrenderin% ourselves in inner

contemplation to the meanin% of these symbols) we accustom our soul toactivities which it does not otherwise e"ercise! These activities <nally en%enderan inner force which enables us to hold bac$ the #orld of Archetypes orArchetypal /ma%es in the same way as we have held bac$ the other worlds! The symbols need not only be pictorial they may also consist of words intowhich profound cosmic truths are compressed! #hen cosmic truths arecompressed into symbolical sentences we have there a force by means of whichwe can mould the substance of our soul! y wor$in% thus upon himself manconsciously builds up that which the e"ternal world has otherwise accomplishedin him without his aid) formin% his brain out of the #orld of 9eason) his nervoussystem out of the #orld of Spirit) his senseor%ans out of the Elementary #orld!8e himself builds or%ans hi%her than the brain) or%ans which are not outwardlyvisible to normal consciousness because they lie in a realm beyond the physical! ust as the eyes have been formed out of the Elementary #orld) the nerves outof the #orld of Spirit) the brain out of the #orld of 9eason) %o out of the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es hi%her spiritual or%ans are formed and moulded) or%ans



which %radually enable us to penetrate into the hi%her world and to loo$ into it! These or%ans simply represent a development and continuation of the activitycarried out at a lower sta%e! These hi%her or%ans of perception appear in theshape of spiritual -owerforms buddin% forth from man and are therefore calledIlotus-owersJ) or also spiritual IwheelsJ or Icha$ramsJ!/n anyone who practises such e"ercises) new or%ans may actually becomevisible to clairvoyant consciousness! 2or e"ample) one unfolds li$e a wheel or

-ower in the middle of the forehead! This is the twopetalled lotus-ower it is aspiritual senseor%an! ust as a physical senseor%an e"ists in order to brin% toour consciousness the world around us) so do the spiritual senseor%ans e"ist inorder to brin% to our consciousness the world which cannot be seen with normalphysical eyes! These socalled lotus-owers are forces and systems of forceswhich bud from man&s soul!A second or%an of this $ind may be formed in the re%ion of the laryn") anothernear the heart) and so on! These spiritual senseor%ans F the word inevitablyimplies a contradiction but there is no better e"pression in modern lan%ua%ewhich is coined for the physical world F these spiritual senseor%ans can becultivated by the patient and vi%orous practice of immersin% oneself in symbolicmental pictures which are not pictures of anythin% in the e"ternal world andwhich in this respect di,er from the mental pictures of ordinary consciousness inthat they do not mirror anythin% e"ternal but wor$ in the soul and produceforces which can hold bac$ the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es ?ust as eyes) nervesand brain hold bac$ the other worlds that are around us!ut to have arrived at this point is not enou%h! Anyone possessed of the facultyof clairvoyant vision can perceive these hi%her senseor%ans in man! ut theseor%ans themselves must now be further developed! So far they have beenformed out of a world hi%her than those worlds out of which our humanconstitution is otherwise built up! Now comes the second sta%e) the preparation

for actual vision! The form ta$en by the process of preparation is that anyonewho has attained /ma%inative nowled%e throu%h the development of the lotus-owers and is conscious of havin% attained it) now passes on to somethin%rather more dicult) to a hi%her sta%e of inner wor$ and e,ort! The <rst sta%e consists in elaboratin% numbers of symbolic mental pictures Fwhich are %iven in every school for %enuine spiritual trainin% and vary accordin%to a man&s individuality) so that the hi%her senseor%ans may be developed withpatience and endurance! At the ne"t sta%e) as soon as the man has ac@uired acertain s$ill in picturin% such symbols) he must reach the point of bein% able toe"clude the pictures from his consciousness and to concentrate only upon theforce within him that has created them! /n formin% the picture of the 9oseCross

we too$ account of the plant and of man) and only afterwards built up thesymbol! Now we eliminate from our consciousness this symbol as well as that ofthe Sta, of Mercury) concentratin% upon the activity we ourselves havee"ercised in buildin% up the pictures! This means that we direct our attention toour own activity) i%norin% the product of it! This is even more dicult! #e say toourselves after havin% created a symbol: 8ow did you do thisK F Most peoplewill need to ma$e many) many attempts in order to pass from the symbol itselfto the activity which created it! The process will ta$e a very lon% time! A%ain anda%ain it will be necessary to create the symbols until we reach the point wherewe can dismiss them) in order then to e"perience somethin% @uite new) withoutseein% anythin% e"ternal) namely) the activity which created them!/f after practisin% this for a lon% time we feel a $ind of seethin% and eddyin%within us) a certain pro%ress has been made! #e can then actually e"periencethe moment when we do not merely possess hi%her or%ans or lotus-owers butsee -ashin% before us a new realm of which hitherto we had no in$lin% we have



reached the sta%e where we have a new <eld of vision and have our <rst insi%htinto the #orld of Spirit! The e"perience is as follows! F #e have already left the ordinary outer world)we have lived in a world of symbols) and now we eliminate the symbols andpictures then we have blac$ dar$ness around us! Consciousness does not ceasebut seethes and eddies) stirred by our own activity! At an earlier sta%e we heldbac$ the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es) now we hold bac$ the #orld of 9eason too)

but not in the same way as before we hold it bac$ from the opposite side! #ehold bac$ what otherwise -ows into us! 3reviously we saw only the shadowpictures of the #orld of 9eason in our own intellectual activity now we see the#orld of 9eason from the other side we see the ein%s $nown as the8ierarchies! Little by little everythin% now becomes <lled with life! This is the <rst step to be ta$en! ut that is not all! A further step consists inac@uirin% the power also to suppress our own activity! 2irst of all the pictureshave been suppressed and now our own activity! /f he really ma$es the attemptthe pupil will a%ain realise how dicult this is it is a lon%er process for it willusually happen that he then falls asleep! Det if any consciousness at all is left tohim) he has advanced to the point where he holds bac$ not only the #orld of9eason but the #orld of Spirit too! 8e now sees the #orld of Spirit from theother side and the spiritual 9ealities and ein%s in that world! #hereas theprevious sta%e of $nowled%e) when the activity creatin% the symbols is heldbac$) is $nown as /nspiration ;nowled%e throu%h /nspiration=) this further sta%e)when we also eliminate our own activity) is called /ntuition! Throu%h /ntuition we%limpse the true con<%uration of the #orld of Spirit which otherwise we see onlyin its shadowpictures) the laws of Nature! #e now become conscious of theein%s and their activities which have their outward e"pression in the realitiesand laws of Nature!#e have now described a path of $nowled%e di,erin% somewhat from the one

that is followed when a man simply becomes conscious of enterin% into orpassin% out of the #orld of Spirit when he %oes to sleep or wa$es! This method<rst creates the or%ans in that the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es is held bac$ andits forces used for the creation of these or%ans that are needed by man) andthen he is led throu%h /ma%inative and /nspired nowled%e into the #orld ofSpirit into which he is now able to %aGe! ut when he has reached the sta%e of/ntuitive nowled%e) he can also %row into the Elementary #orld in such a wayas not to enter it unprepared but fully prepared) seein% it before him as a <nale"perience! Certainly this path is a hard one for many people because itdemands much renunciation! A man must <rst practise for a lon% time withsymbols and wait until the re@uisite or%ans are formed! ut to be%in with he

cannot see with these or%ans! /t is very often the case today that people do notwant to %o alon% a sure path but above all to see somethin% @uic$ly) to haverapid success! Success will surely come but it must be achieved by practisin% acertain renunciation! 2irst we must wor$ upon ourselves for a lon% time in orderlittle by little to <nd entrance into the hi%her worlds and truly) what we <rst seeof the #orld of 9eason and of the #orld of Spirit is a very colourless vista! Onlywhen we come bac$ from these realms into the Elementary #orld) when we arefar advanced in /ntuitive nowled%e F only then does everythin% ac@uire colourand vividness) because then it is all permeated by the Elementary #orld and itse,ects! /t is only from the vanta%epoint of /ntuitive nowled%e that these thin%scan be described!Moreover only when we have ?oy in buildin% up the symbols) when we wor$ withpatience and perseverance at the development of the or%ans) can we be awareof a certain pro%ress but althou%h at the be%innin% we see only little of thehi%her worlds) it is a sure path and one that protects us from illusions! Thereward comes only later) but it is a path that is a safe%uard a%ainst idle



phantasy! /f we have wor$ed our way to the sta%e of /ma%inative nowled%e) wealready stand in the world immediately above our own and we feel that we havemembered into ourselves somethin% from a hi%her world! Then we %radually riseto hi%her and hi%her sta%es and <nally achieve a real understandin% of thehi%her worlds! Dou will <nd an outline of this process of development in the boo$) nowled%e ofthe 8i%her #orlds and /ts Attainment and in the later part of the boo$) Occult

Science F an Outline! The accounts %iven there are intended for a rather widerpublic and are therefore somewhat condensed! / wanted today to spea$ ofcertain more intimate matters which will add somethin% to what is contained inthose boo$s on the sub?ect of the path to hi%her $nowled%e!/ have tried to ma$e it clear that in the Microcosm) in the nervous system) in thebrain) men are mirrorima%es of the activities and ein%s of the Macrocosm! /thas been shown that before we be%in to wor$ on ourselves in order to unfoldhi%her @ualities) other wor$ has already been applied to our development ashuman bein%s! #e have realised that we are actually only continuin% the wor$that has already been applied to us! ust as our physical constitution has beenbuilt up out of the hi%her worlds) so do we ourselves build up our Ispiritual manJ!#e transcend our ordinary selves by advancin% in our development! Nobodywho ta$es the concept of evolution seriously can doubt that such furtherdevelopment is possible! Those who believe that what is actually there has risenfrom earlier Sta%es of e"istence to the present one must also admit thatdevelopment can %o forward! ut because man has become a conscious bein%)he must also ta$e his development consciously in hand! And he can tread in fullconsciousness the path of development that has been described! /f he needs ateacher) he no lon%er needs him F as was the case when the old methods werein use F as one who ta$es somethin% away from him or allows somethin% tostream to him in such circumstances those who were %uided by the teacher

were not independent! Today we have been learnin% about a path entirely in$eepin% with the consciousness of modern humanity) for one who ta$es this pathentrusts himself to another in no other sense than a pupil entrusts himself to atutor in mathematics! /f he did not assume that the tutor $nows more than he$nows himself) he certainly would not %o to him! /n the same sense we entrustourselves to a leader or teacher who %ives us nothin% more than indications! Atevery step we remain our own master while scrupulously followin% theindications %iven! #e follow the indications %iven by the teacher as we should doin the case of those %iven by a tutor in mathematics) only now our whole soul isen%a%ed it is not a matter of applyin% our intellect to the solution of amathematical problem! /t is the essence of the new method of /nitiation that it

ta$es account <rst and foremost of the independence of the human bein% the0uru is no lon%er a 0uru in the old sense but only in the sense that he %ivesadvice as to how pro%ress can be made! The successive epochs chan%e and man is constantly passin% throu%h newsta%es of e"istence! The methods for promotin% development must thereforealso chan%e! .i,erent methods were necessary in earlier times! The methodcalled the 9osicrucian after its most important symbol is the one mostappropriate and <ttin% for the soul of modern man!So we see how) in addition to the older methods) there also e"ists theappropriate modern method which leads man in the way indicated into thehi%her worlds! A mere outline has been %iven today! Tomorrow we shall describehow man) if he wor$s upon himself) %rows step by step into the hi%her worldsand how they are %radually revealed to him! #e have described what man hasto do in order to apply the new methods and tomorrow we shall spea$ of whathe becomes and what is eventually revealed to him!



actually thin$ with the spiritual or%ans underlyin% the brain but it is %enerallyaccepted that we thin$ with the head! #e have a @uite di,erent feelin% aboutthe thin$in% that becomes possible when we have made a little pro%ress! Thefeelin% then is as if what had hitherto been localised in the head were nowlocalised in the heart! This does not mean the physical heart but the spiritualor%an that develops in the nei%hbourhood of the heart) the twelvepetalledlotus-ower! This or%an becomes a $ind of or%an of thin$in% in one who achieves

inner development and this thin$in% of the heart is very di,erent from ordinarythin$in%! /n ordinary thin$in% everyone $nows that re-ection is necessary inorder to arrive at a particular truth! The mind moves from one concept toanother and after lo%ical deliberation and re-ection reaches what is calledI$nowled%eJ! /t is di,erent when we want to reco%nise the truth in connectionwith %enuine symbols or emblems! They are before us li$e ob?ects) but thethin$in% we apply to them cannot be confounded with ordinary brainthin$in%!#hether they are true or false is directly evident without any re-ection bein%necessary as in the case of ordinary thin$in%! #hat there is to say about thehi%her worlds is directly evident! As soon as the pictures are before us we $nowwhat we have to say about them to ourselves and to others! This is thecharacteristic of heartthin$in%! There are not many thin%s in everyday life that may be compared with it but /will spea$ of somethin% that may ma$e it intelli%ible! There are events whichbrin% the intellect almost literally to a standstill! 2or e"ample) suppose someevent confronts you li$e a -ash of li%htnin% and you are terri<ed! No e"ternalthou%ht intervenes between the event and your terror! The inner e"perience Fthe terror F is somethin% that can brin% the mind to a standstill! That is a %oode"pression for it) for people feel what has) in very fact) happened! Similarly) wemay -y into a ra%e at the si%ht of some act we see in the street! There a%ain it isthe direct impression that evo$es the inner e"perience! /f we be%in to re-ect

about what happened we shall <nd in most cases that we form a di,erent ?ud%ment of it! E"periences which arise when an action or inner state of minddirectly follows the <rst impression are the only $ind in everyday life that may becompared with those of the spiritual investi%ator when he has to say somethin%about his e"periences in the hi%her worlds! /f we be%in to reason) to apply muchlo%ical criticism to these e"periences) we drive them away! And furthermore)ordinary thin$in% applied in such cases will usually produce somethin% that isfalse!Essential as it is <rst of all to under%o the discipline of sound) reasoned thin$in%before attemptin% to enter the hi%her worlds) it is e@ually essential to rise abovethis ordinary thin$in% to immediate apprehension! And ?ust because it is

necessary to have this faculty of immediate apprehension in the hi%her world)the preparatory trainin% in lo%ical thin$in% is essential) for otherwise our feelin%swould @uite certainly lead us into error! #ith ordinary intellectual thin$in% we areincapable of ?ud%in% ri%htly in the hi%her world) but e@ually we are incapable of ?ud%in% ri%htly in that world if we have not <rst trained our intellectual thin$in%in the physical world) and then) at a suitable moment) are able to be oblivious of it! Some people consider that this characteristic @uality of the hi%her $ind ofthin$in%) the thin$in% of the heart) is a reason for discardin% ordinary lo%icalto%ether! They say that as it has eventually to be for%otten there is no need toassimilate it <rst of all! ut in sayin% this they disre%ard the fact that lo%icalthin$in% is a trainin% for ma$in% oneself a di,erent man! /n lo%ical thin$in% wee"perience above all a $ind of conscience) and by developin% that we establishin the soul a certain sense of responsibility towards truth and untruth) withoutwhich nothin% can be achieved in the hi%her worlds!Admittedly) there is %reat cause to disre%ard thin$in% durin% the ascent into thehi%her worlds) for in the ordinary life of today man e"periences F or can at least



e"perience F these three sta%es! F The ma?ority of people are at the sta%ewhere in their normal consciousness an immediate) innate feelin% tells them:this is ri%ht) that is wron% you ou%ht to do this) you ou%ht not to do that! A manusually lets himself be %uided by this $ind of spontaneous impulse! Not manypeople ta$e the trouble to re-ect upon what are their most sacred treasures!ecause they were born) let us say) in Middle Europe and not in Tur$ey) theyhave an inherent tendency to consider Christianity) not Mohammedanism) the

true faith in Europe! This must not be misunderstood! 2urther re-ection upon itleads to a true understandin% of life! /n by far the %reat ma?ority of people animmediate feelin% determines what they consider to be true or false! That is the<rst sta%e of development!At the second sta%e man be%ins to re-ect! More and more people will be proneto abandon their ori%inal feelin% and to re-ect about the circumstances andconditions into which they have been born! This is why there is so much criticismtoday of creeds and of sacred traditions from the past! All this criticism is thereaction of the intellect and the reasonin% mind a%ainst what has been acceptedout of feelin% and left unproven by the intellect! Modern science is dominated bythe same attitude of mind that adopts a critical attitude to whatever is innate ortraditional! #hat is universally called science is) after all) essentially the wor$ ofthe same soulforces that have been characterised above! Everythin% isfocussed upon outer $nowled%e and upon perceptions made either directlythrou%h the senses or throu%h enhancements of senseperceptions by means ofinstruments such as the telescope) microscope and so forth! The observationsmade are then formulated into laws with the help of the intellect! Thus there are these two sta%es in the development of the human soul! /nrespect of what a man accepts as true he may be at the sta%e where he is%uided by primitive) undeveloped feelin%) feelin% that is inborn or has beenac@uired throu%h education! A second factor is what is called intellect)

intelli%ence! ut anyone who has a little insi%ht into the nature of the soul $nowsthat a very de<nite @uality of this intelli%ence is that it has a deadenin% e,ectupon the emotional life! /s there any close observer who could fail to realise thatall purely intellectual development deadens feelin% and emotionK 8ence thosewho out of certain primitive feelin%s F which are entirely ?usti<able at one sta%eof development F incline towards this or that truth are reluctant to let thesebeliefs be a,ected by the witherin% and devastatin% e,ect of intellectuality! Thisreluctance is understandable! /f) however) it %oes so far as to ma$e people saythat in order to rise into the hi%her worlds they will avoid all thin$in% and remainin their immature emotional life) then they can never reach the hi%her worlds alltheir e"periences will remain on a low level! /t is inconvenient) but necessary) to

train the power of thin$in% F which is of course invaluable for life in the e"ternalworld) althou%h for those who aspire to reach the hi%her worlds thin$in% servesmerely as a preparation) as trainin%! The validity of truths of the hi%her worldscannot be established throu%h lo%ic! The thin$in% that is applied to machines) tothe phenomena of outer nature) to the natural sciences) cannot be applied in thesame way to e"periences connected with the hi%her worlds! Anyone whounderstands this will not sin% the praises of what is usually called IintellectJ inconnection with $nowled%e of the hi%her worlds) for if anyone were to attempt todraw intellectual conclusions about these worlds he would only be able toproduce commonplace truths of little depth) whereas for the e"ternal physicalworld the application of thin$in% is absolutely necessary! #ithout intellect wecould not construct machines) build brid%es or study botany) Goolo%y) medicine)or anythin% else its use in those domains is apparent inasmuch as it is appliedto the immediate ob?ects!2or hi%her development) intellect has appro"imately the si%ni<cance thatlearnin% to write has in youth! Learnin% to write is the e"ercise of a faculty that



must be behind us when it has to be applied it has si%ni<cance only when wehave %ot beyond it! As lon% as we are still learnin% to write we cannot e"pressour thou%hts throu%h writin% we must be able to write before we can learnanythin% from what is written! So it is too) with thin$in%! Anyone who wants tounder%o hi%her development must for a certain time also under%o trainin% inlo%ical thin$in% and then discard it in order to pass over to thin$in% with theheart! Then there remains with him a certain habit of conscientiousness with

re%ard to the acceptance of truth in the hi%her worlds! Nobody who hasunder%one this trainin% will re%ard every symbol as a true /ma%ination orinterpret it arbitrarily but he will have the inner stren%th to draw near to reality)to see and interpret it ri%htly! The very reason why a thorou%h trainin% isnecessary is because we must then have an immediate feelin% as to whethersomethin% is true or false! To put it e"actly) this means that whereas in ordinarylife we use re-ection) in the hi%her worlds our thin$in% must previously havebeen developed suciently to enable us to decide spontaneously about truth orfalsity!A %ood preparation for such direct vision is a @uality that must also be ac@uiredand in ordinary life is present only to a very small e"tent! Most people will cryout if) let us say) they are pric$ed by a needle or if very hot water is poured overtheir heads! ut how many really feel anythin% a$in F / say e"pressly a$in F topain when a foolish or absurd statement is madeK Countless individuals cantolerate that @uite easily! ut anyone who wants to develop the immediatefeelin% of one thin% bein% true and another false) in such a way that the/ma%inative world plays a part in the e"perience) must so) train himself thaterror causes him actual pain and that the truth also to be encountered inphysical life %ives him %ladness and ?oy! To ac@uire this @uality is an e"actin% process and it is connected with the e,ortinvolved in the preparation for entry into the hi%her worlds! To be indi,erent to

truth and error is of course more comfortable than to feel pain in face of errorand ?oy in face of truth! There is plenty of opportunity today to feel pain at thefoolishness of the contents of many boo$sH 3ain and su,erin% in face of the u%ly)the untrue and the evil) even when only in our environment and not actuallyin-icted on ourselves pleasure in the beautiful) the true) the %ood) even whenwe are not personally concerned F all this forms part of the trainin% for thethin$in% of the heart! There is somethin% else too which forms part of the trainin%! #hoever ascendsinto the /ma%inative world must ac@uire another @uality that he does notpossess in everyday life! 8e must learn to thin$ in a new way about what iscalled contradiction or a%reement! /n the ordinary way many a man will feel

when certain statements are made that the one contradicts the other! Det wemay <nd that two persons in e"actly the same circumstances have @uitedi,erent e"periences! The description of this e"perience %iven by one of themmay be alto%ether di,erent from that %iven by the other yet both of them maybe ri%ht from their own standpoint! 2or e"ample) one person may say: / havebeen in such and such a place the air was bracin% and / was much refreshed! F#e listen to him and believe what he says! The other may say about the sameplace: /t is no %ood / lost all my ener%y there and found it a most unhealthyspot! A%ain we can only believe him! /n fact) both of the two may be ri%ht! The<rst person was a robust) healthy individual) who bein% an"ious to accomplish a%reat deal in a short time) was overwor$ed and fati%ued! 8e was able to feel therefreshin% e,ect of the air! The second) a sic$ly man) could not stand the bracin%air and his condition deteriorated! oth statements are ri%ht) because theantecedents of the visits to the place were di,erent! Contradictory statementsmay be reconciled if all the factors are ta$en into consideration!



ut the matter becomes much more complicated when we rise into the hi%herworlds! /n the physical world it may happen) for instance) that someone hears astatement in one lecture about a sub?ect) and in another lecture somethin%apparently di,erent! Applyin% the standard reco%nised in ordinary life he says: This cannot be true) for the two statements contradict each other! F Supposethat in an earlier course of lectures someone has heard it stated that a humanbein% descends to a new birth throu%h astral space with e"treme rapidity when

he has to <nd the place where he is to incarnate! Such a case was observed andit was mentioned in a lecture! Elsewhere it has been said that the human bein%has wor$ed for a very lon% time at the @ualities and traits he <nally assumes inthe family and race into which be is born! /t is easy to <nd contradiction here)yet both conditions are true to e"perience! The followin% analo%y will help toresolve the apparent contradiction! Suppose that someone has for <ve or si"days been carefully carvin% somethin% for himself on the seventh day) althou%hhe $nows for certain that it had been <nished the day before) be cannot <nd itand has to loo$ everywhere for it! oth facts are true! And when incarnation is tota$e place somethin% similar holds %ood in the hi%her worlds! 3reparation hasbeen made but because e"periences in the hi%her worlds are so complicated) itis possible that ?ust at the moment when a human bein% is about to descendfrom those worlds to unite with the etheric and physical bodies) he is still obli%edto see$ for them because a cloudin% of consciousness has ta$en place!Conse@uently he has now to see$ for what he himself) with a hi%her %rade ofconsciousness) had prepared!2rom such an e"ample we can see that somethin% is essential when we rise intothe hi%her worlds! #e must always be mindful of the circumstance that in tryin%to enter into the realm of /ma%ination) the matter in @uestion presents itself tous in a de<nite picture! /f throu%h the thin$in% of the heart we have ac@uired astron% enou%h feelin% of the truth of this picture) it may happen that when) at

another time) with trained clairvoyance) we follow a similar path) we arrive at a@uite di,erent /ma%ination) yet immediate feelin% a%ain says: That is trueH #emust be aware of this for it is naturally confusin% to one who is enterin% theworld of /ma%ination! ut the confusion is cleared up if our attention is dulydirected to it! #e shall ac@uire the ri%ht attitude to this whole @uestion bysee$in% for our E%o itself in the /ma%inative world!#e have described how it is possible to loo$ bac$ upon the E%o from outside! Onpassin% the 0uardian of the Threshold the E%o is ob?ectively before us! ut wemay loo$ at this E%o once) twice) three times) four times) and each time obtaindi,erent pictures! Accordin% to conditions prevailin% in the physical world wemi%ht say to ourselves: Now / have seen what / am in the hi%her world! And the

second time: Now / have found myself a%ain and am somethin% di,erent! Andthe third time a%ain we <nd somethin% di,erent! F #hen throu%h the trainin%described we enter the /ma%inative world and see a picture of our E%o) it isessential to $now that twelve di,erent pictures of the E%o can be seen! Thereare twelve di,erent pictures of every sin%le E%o) and only after contemplatin% itfrom twelve di,erent standpoints have we a complete picture! This view of theE%o from outside corresponds e"actly to what is re-ected in the relationship ofthe twelve constellations of the odiac to the Sun! ust as the Sun passesthrou%h the twelve constellations and has in each a di,erent power) ?ust as itillumines our Earth throu%h the course of the year and even of the day) fromtwelve di,erent stations) so the human E%o is illumined from twelve di,erentstations in the hi%her world! Therefore in risin% into the hi%her worlds we must realise the necessity of notbein% satis<ed with one standpoint only! QR See 8uman and Cosmic Thou%ht!2our lectures %iven in erlin) anuary (*(4! #e must train ourselves in this inorder to escape confusion! #e can only do so by accustomin% ourselves in the



physical world to realise that salvation is not achieved by contemplatin% anymatter from one standpoint only! There are people who are materialists) others are spiritists) others monists)others dualists) and so forth! The materialists insist that everythin% is matterthe spiritists assert that everythin% is spirit and attribute importance to spiritalone the monists declare that everythin% proceeds from unity! /n the outerworld people <%ht and wran%le with each other on every possible occasion F

the materialists a%ainst the spiritists= the monists a%ainst the dualists and so on!ut everyone who wants to prepare himself for real $nowled%e must pay heed tothe followin% facts! F Materialism has a certain ?usti<cation we must learn howto thin$) as the materialist does) in terms of the laws of matter) but this thin$in%must be applied to the material world only! #e must comprehend these laws) forotherwise we cannot <nd our bearin%s in the material world! /f someone were toattempt to e"plain a cloc$ by sayin%: I/ believe there are two little demonssittin% inside it and ma$in% the hands %o round! / do not believe in machinery)JF such a man would be lau%hed to scorn) for a cloc$ can be e"plained only byapplyin% the laws of the material world! Those who try to e"plain themovements of the stars by material laws are simply tellin% us of a mechanicalsystem! The mista$e does not lie in materialistic thin$in% itself but in thesupposition that it can e"plain the whole universe and that there is no othervalid $ind of thin$in%! 8aec$el does not err when e"plainin% by the laws ofmaterialistic morpholo%y phenomena of which he has e"ceptional $nowled%e ifhe had con<ned himself to a certain cate%ory of phenomena he could haveperformed an enormous service to humanity!/t can therefore be said that materialistic thin$in% has its ?usti<cation) but in acertain domain only! Spiritual thin$in% must be applied to whatever is sub?ect tothe laws of spirituality and not to those of mechanics! #hen someone says: IDoucome alon% with a peculiar psycholo%y alle%ed to have its own laws) but / $now

that there are certain processes in the brain which e"plain thin$in%J F he isintroducin% matters of a di,erent nature) and in another domain he is ma$in%the same mista$e as the man who believes in the two demons in the cloc$! Aslittle as the cloc$ can be e"plained by demons) as little can thin$in% bee"plained by movements of atoms in the brain! A%ain) anyone who attributesfati%ue in the evenin% to the accumulation of to"ins may be %ivin% the ri%hte"planation as far as the outer facts are concerned) but as far as the soul isconcerned he is e"plainin% nothin% whatever) for a spiritual e"planation isessential there!And then ta$e monism! y attemptin% to e"plain the world only from the aspectof harmony) one is bound to arrive at unity) but it is abstract unity and means

impoverishment! 3hilosophers whose only aim is to arrive at unity have in theend %ained nothin% at all! / once $new a man whose aim was to e"plain thewhole world in a couple of sentences and he <nally came to inform me with%reat %lee that he had actually found two simple formulae which could e"plainevery possible phenomenon in the worldH This is an e"ample of the onesidedness of monistic thou%ht! Such thin$in% must be widened throu%hproceedin% from very di,erent points and <nally reachin% unity!y adoptin% di,erent standpoints we can educate ourselves to view thin%s frommany an%les F a faculty that is so necessary for e"periences in the hi%herworlds! #e should spare no e,orts to prepare ourselves to view the E%o fromtwelve standpoints! ut there is little understandin% today for such a de%ree ofob?ectivity! Anyone who has attempted to achieve it will be able to tell of theremar$able reaction in the world when anyone sets aside his personal point ofview and surrenders himself to the views held by another! 2or e"ample: / myselfhave endeavoured to portray NietGsche as he must be portrayed by anyone whosets aside his own opinion and personality and enters ri%ht into his sub?ect! This



is the only way of brin%in% about %enuine understandin% but people who readwhat / said and then my ne"t boo$) insisted that in the latter / was inconsistent! They could not understand that / was not a disciple of NietGsche) for / hadportrayed him in a positive way! This is tantamount to sayin% that anyone whosteeps himself in 8aec$el in order to e"pound 8aec$el&s philosophy must also beone of his adherents! This power of emer%in% from oneself in order to describe somethin% ob?ectively)

as it were with the eyes of a di,erent viewpoint) is a @uality that it is necessaryto ac@uire) for that alone can lead to farreachin% truth! Nobody %ets anywherenear the real truth if he stands at a particular spot and %aGes) let us say) at arosebush) but only if he photo%raphs it now from one standpoint) now fromanother) and a%ain from another! y such means we train ourselves to ac@uirewhat we need as soon as we rise into the hi%her worlds! Confusion is inevitablein the hi%her worlds if we enter them with personal opinions for then weimmediately have delusive ima%es of truth before us! To develop the thin$in% of the heart we must have the power to %o out ofourselves and loo$ bac$ upon ourselves from outside! /n normal consciousness aperson stands at a certain place and $nows that in sayin%) 5That am /7) hemeans the sumtotal of what he believes and stands for! One who rises into ahi%her world) however) must be able to leave his ordinary personality behind) to%o out of himself and say with the same feelin%: 5That is you!7 The former I / Jmust be able in the true sense to become a IyouJ) ?ust as we say IyouJ to anotherperson! This must become an actual e"perience it is attainable in the physicalworld throu%h trainin%! #e must <rst do relatively simple thin%s in this way) andthen we earn the ri%ht to thin$ with the heart! All true presentations of thehi%her worlds proceed from the thin$in% of the heart althou%h outwardly theyoften seem to be purely lo%ical e"positions! #hatever is described in SpiritualScience has been e"perienced with the heart and must be cast into forms of

thou%ht intelli%ible to reasonin% people! That is where the thin$in% of the heart di,ers from sub?ective mysticism! Anyonemay e"perience the latter for himself but it is not communicable to another) nordoes it concern anyone else! True and %enuine mysticism sprin%s from thecapacity to have /ma%inations) to receive impressions from the hi%her worldsand then to coordinate these impressions by means of the thin$in% of the heart) ?ust as the thin%s of the physical world are coordinated by the intellect!Somethin% else is associated with this) namely that the truths imparted from thehi%her worlds are tin%ed with somethin% li$e the heart&s blood! 8owever abstractthey may seem to be) however completely they may be cast into forms ofthou%ht) they are tin%ed with the heart&s blood) for they are direct e"periences

of the soul! 2rom the moment a man has developed the thin$in% of the heart) hee"periences somethin% that seems li$e a vision yet what he e"periences is not avision but the e"pression of a soulandspiritual reality) ?ust as the colour of therose is its outer manifestation) the e"pression of its material nature! The seerdirects his %aGe into the /ma%inative world there he has the impression) let ussay) of somethin% blue or violet) or he hears a sound or has a feelin% of warmthor cold! 8e $nows throu%h the thin$in% of the heart that the impression was nota mere vision) a <%ment of the mind) but that the -eetin% blue or violet was thee"pression of a soulspiritual reality) ?ust as the red of the rose is the e"pressionof a material reality! Thus do we penetrate into the realities) into the spiritualein%s themselves) and we have to unite with them! That is why all research inthe spiritual world is lin$ed in a far hi%her sense and to a far %reater e"tent thanis the case in other e"periences) with the surrender of our own personality! #ebecome more and more intensely involved in the e"perience we are within theein%s and thin%s themselves! #e must e"perience their %ood and bad @ualities)also their beautiful and u%ly @ualities) what is true in them and what false! /f we



are really intent upon e"periencin% truth) we must not only perceive error bute"perience it in the /ma%inative world with pain! #e must not merely loo$ atu%liness in such a way that it has no e,ect upon us) but we must e"perience itas inwardly hurtful! The trainin% described above is particularly suitable for people of the presentday and throu%h it we can learn to e"perience the %ood) the true) the beautiful)but also u%liness and error) without bein% involved in the latter) for the thin$in%

of the heart is able to discriminate!/n %ivin% descriptions from the spiritual worlds) in translatin% our e"periencesinto terms of lo%ical thou%ht) we feel as if we were approachin% a hill on whichthere are wonderful roc$formations which must be hewn out in order to buildhouses for men! /n the same way our e"periences in the spiritual worlds have tobe translated into lo%ical thou%hts! #hen anyone wants to communicate toother human bein%s what he has e"perienced throu%h the thin$in% of the heart)he too must translate it into lo%ical thou%hts! ut lo%ical thou%hts are merely thelan%ua%e in which) in Spiritual Science) the thin$in% of the heart iscommunicated! There may be someone who <nds diculty in thecommunications of a %enuine spiritual investi%ator) and says: 5/ hear only wordsthey convey no thou%hts to me!7 That may be the fault of the one who isspea$in%) but not necessarily so it may be the fault of the listener who can hearonly the sound of the words and is incapable of advancin% from the words to thethou%hts! /t may be the fault of a person who clothes alle%edly spiritual truths inthou%hts that fail to convey to others any evidence of the thin$in% of the heart!ut it may e@ually be the fault of the listener who is incapable of detectin%truths behind the thou%hts which are li$e words conveyin% the <ndin%s of thethin$in% of the heart!#hatever can be communicated to man$ind from the thin$in% of the heart mustbe able to be cast into clearly formulated thou%hts! /f this is not possible it is not

ready to be communicated! The touchstone is whether the e"periences can betranslated into lucid words and clearly de<ned thou%hts! Thus even when wehear the deepest truths of the heart stated in words) we must accustomourselves to perceive behind them the thou%htforms and their content! Thestudent of Spiritual Science must ac@uire this faculty if he desires to help inspreadin% throu%h man$ind whatever can be revealed from the Spirit! /t wouldbe sheer e%oism if anyone wished to have it for himself alone mysticale"periences) li$e intellectual e"periences) must become the common herita%e of man$ind! Only by realisin% this can we understand the mission of SpiritualScience for man$ind F a mission which must become more and more e,ectiveas time %oes on!

LECT69E TEN T9ANS2O9MAT/ON O2 SO6L2O9CES AN. STA0ES /N T8E EPOL6T/ON O238DS/CAL O90ANS!9EA./N0 /N T8E AAS8A C89ON/CLE!/n these lectures / have tried to present items of $nowled%e which for reasonsconnected with the evolution of humanity should now be communicated) andthis from a standpoint rather di,erent from that of boo$s which may beaccessible to you! My desire has been to illumine this $nowled%e from the an%leof more direct e"perience and we may hope that) by addin% to truths alreadymade $nown facts directly revealed by consciousness) many thin%s will bee"plained in a new way! At any rate) those who have heard only these lectureswill be able to <nd in boo$s such as Occult Science) or nowled%e of the 8i%her#orlds) information supplementin% what has here been said! #hen any attemptis made to describe the hi%her worlds) it is @uite understandable that this can bedone from di,erent standpoints! #e have heard of the number of di,erent



standpoints from which it is possible to contemplate our own E%o from outsideas soon as we enter the hi%her worlds! / should now li$e to continue describin%thin%s more from the inner side) in connection with what was said yesterdayabout the lo%ic) or thin$in%) of the heart in contrast to what is $nown in e"ternallife as the lo%ic) or thin$in%) of the head or of the intellect!/n yesterday&s lecture it was made clear that the lo%ic of the heart may be foundat two sta%es in the process of human evolution! 2irstly) it may be found at that

sta%e of development where the thin$in% of the heart is not yet permeated bythe lo%ic of the head and of the intellect! Attention was called to the fact thatthere are still people today who would prefer not to concern themselves at allwith the lo%ic of the intellect! This state of development can no lon%er be said toe"ist in the real sense at the present time) for no matter where you were to loo$amon% the people of today) you would everywhere <nd at least a few conceptsand ideas born of the intellect! To <nd a sta%e of evolution entirely devoid ofintellect we should have to %o bac$ a very lon% way in the evolution ofhumanity) to a faro, prehistoric sta%e! 2rom what has been said) therefore) itfollows that our present state of development points bac$ to an earlier one whenthe heart ?ud%ed out of the subconsciousness) out of a consciousness not yetpermeated with intellect! Today) this ori%inal faculty of the heart is permeatedwith concepts) with ideas) in brief) with what we call the lo%ic of the intellect! utbearin% in mind what was said yesterday about man&s possibilities ofdevelopment) we may point forward to a future sta%e of evolution even nowstriven for by a few who with their presentday consciousness already have thelon%in%) the ur%e) as it were to forestall the future!#e can loo$ towards a future humanity when the lo%ic of the heart will a%ain befunctionin% to the fullest e"tent) when out of direct feelin% man will behold thetruth! ut he will then have assimilated the fruits of the intermediate sta%e ofdevelopment) the sta%e of the lo%ic of the intellect! /t may therefore be said that

we arc now passin% throu%h the evolutionary sta%e of intellectual thin$in% inorder to re%ain) on a hi%her level) what had already been attained on a lower)namely) the lo%ic of the heart! #hereas on the lower level it was not illuminedby the intellect) on the hi%her level it will later on be irradiated by what man hasac@uired throu%h the lo%ic of the intellect! Thus we can conceive of three sta%es of human evolution: one precedin% that ofour present time) one of today) and one that will come in the future! 2rom thiswe can also perceive what evolution means) namely) that to what has beenac@uired at an earlier sta%e somethin% new is added and is to live on into thefuture!#e can %lean still more precise information from the e"periences of those who

already now have reached what was described yesterday as an attainable stateof hi%her consciousness throu%h which it is possible to loo$ clairvoyantly into thehi%her worlds! Not only is the faculty of thin$in% a,ected by such atransformation but other soulforces too will assume new forms when the facultyof thin$in% chan%es! #hen throu%h spiritualscienti<c trainin% someone wor$shis way upward to a hi%her sta%e of co%nition from the lo%ic of the intellect tothe lo%ic of the heart) from the thin$in% of the head to the thin$in% of the heart)do the other faculties of the soul chan%e tooK Let us elucidate this by ta$in% ane"ample F the e"ample of memory!Memory) li$e thin$in%) is a faculty of the soul! The character of thin$in% chan%eswhen from bein% thin$in% of the head it becomes) at a hi%her spiritual level)thin$in% of the heart! #hat is there to be said of memoryK /n the normalconsciousness of everyday life we <nd that memory wor$s in the followin% way!F Man has consciousness of what is around him in the immediate present! 8esees the thin%s around him) ma$es his observations) forms his ideas! 8e canincorporate all this in his consciousness! Then he proceeds from what his soul



can e"perience in the present to somethin% it e"perienced in the past! Throu%hmemory) man passes out of the present into the past! #hen he recallssomethin% he e"perienced yesterday) he is loo$in% bac$wards in time! Therewithhe surveys somethin% that was once in his environment but is so no lon%er!Anyone who studies memory from this point of view realises that ?ust as ourconsciousness of the present is connected with the space immediately aroundus) this memory) this e"tension of consciousness over the past) is connected

with time! 2or a %enuine see$er) however) the nature of this particular activity of consciousness chan%es completely!Obviously there is no need for the spiritual investi%ator to apply his hi%herfaculties at every moment of ordinary life he possesses these faculties but putsthem into operation only when he wishes to carry out research in the hi%herworlds! #hen he does this) headthin$in% becomes heartthin$in% and hisordinary memory chan%es into a di,erent form of soulactivity! ut for thee"periences of everyday life there is no need for him to be constantly passin%into his hi%her states of consciousness) no need to be continually usin% and%ivin% evidence of the faculties of soul that have been described! #hen hereturns to the everyday world he has a memory and a faculty of thin$in% ?ust li$ethose of anyone else! /t is therefore the capacity to transpose himself from thenormal into a supernormal state of consciousness that the pupil must possess! This should always be $ept in mind!Now whenever the pupil is in the state of consciousness in which he isinvesti%atin% the spiritual world throu%h a faculty analo%ous to that of ordinarymemory) what he observes in that world presents itself not in time) but spatially!Memory is completely transformed! #hereas ordinary memory loo$s bac$ intime in order to recall events of yesterday) when pro%ress in spiritual $nowled%ehas been made the investi%ator e"periences the past as if) standin% here) hewere loo$in% throu%h the door into the ad?acent area! 8e loo$s at somethin% that

is separated as if by space) as if yesterday&s events are separated spatially fromthose of today! #e can therefore say that for the spiritual investi%ator the eventswhich usually appear to memory one after another in time) now presentthemselves beside one another ;in the spatial sense=) and he must as it weremove from one event to another) pass from one entity to another!On thin$in% over this carefully) you will see that this statement is entirely inaccordance with what has previously been said) namely that in the spiritualworld we must become one with the bein%s there! #e must not %o bac$ alon%the line of time) for time is transformed into a $ind of space we must pass alon%this line as if it were a line in space in order to be able to unite with the bein%s!2or the soulfaculty of memory) Time chan%es into Space as soon as we enter

the spiritual world!Memory has become an essentially new faculty! #e see somethin% belon%in% tothe past as thou%h it were still there in the immediate present the len%th oftime that has elapsed is estimated accordin% to the distance! The past presentsitself to the pupil as somethin% placed side by side in space! #hen this form ofmemory has been attained) it is actually a readin% of events that haveremained! This is readin% in the A$asha Chronicle it is a world in which Time hasbecome Space! ust as our own world is $nown as the physical) so the world inwhich Time has become Space can be termed the A$asha #orld! This alters thewhole attitude of the true mystic) for what in everyday life is called Time) nolon%er e"ists in this form in the hi%her world!#e can reco%nise from this e"ample how wonderfully thin%s harmonise whenviewed from the ri%ht standpoint! #hat would become of man in everyday life ifhe were unable to harmonise his thin$in% with his memory) if he were to <ndthat his lo%ical thin$in% contradicted his memoryK Suppose you had before you adocument bearin% the date of '>th March! That is a perception which you have



in your consciousness of the present! ut you were there when the recordedevent occurred and %oin% bac$ over the days) your memory says to you: 5/tmust have happened a day earlier!7 There you have an obvious case whereconsciousness of the immediate present con-icts with memory! /n the physicalworld such cases will as a rule be easily recti<ed) but in the spiritual world it ismuch more dicult! The outer conditions of the physical world of themselvescorrect such errors! #hen someone in the street for%ets that he must turn left to

reach home and ta$es a turnin% to the ri%ht) the mista$e will soon be realised!ut in the spiritual world there is no such convenient means for correctin%mista$es! There it is necessary to have the inner certainty which will preventmista$es bein% made so easily the most careful preparation must be under%onein order to avoid such mista$es! /n that world error mi%ht well cost dear a sin%lemista$e mi%ht easily lead to in<nite trouble! 8armony must prevail between thelo%ic of the heart and the $ind of memory that has been described! The way in which we develop in accordance with the indications of SpiritualScience itself %uarantees this harmony! And here we come to the principle whichthe pupil must ta$e to heart) namely) that everythin% e"ternal and physical canonly be understood if it is re%arded as a symbol) an emblem of a supersensiblereality) a spiritual reality!2or lo%ic of the head we have an instrument in our physical brain! This is $nownto everyone throu%h ordinary science! Admittedly we cannot say in the samesense that in our physical heart we have an instrument for the lo%ic of the heart!2or that is somethin% far more spiritual than the lo%ic of the head) and the heartis not to the same de%ree the physical or%an for the thin$in% of the heart as isthe brain for the thin$in% of the head! Det the physical heart provides us with ananalo%y! #hen the thin$in% of the heart chan%es Time into Space) our wholebein% has to move about we have to be involved in a perpetual circulation! Suchis the de<nite e"perience of anyone who passes from ordinary memory to the

hi%her form of memory possessed by the spiritual investi%ator! #hereas in anact of remembrance an ordinary man loo$s bac$ to the past) the spiritualinvesti%ator has the inner e"perience that he is actually movin% bac$wards in Time in the same way as he otherwise moves in Space! And this consciousnesse"presses itself outwardly in the e"periencin% of our blood) which must also bein perpetual movement if we are to %o on livin%! /n our blood we are involved allthe time in the movement from the heart throu%h the body and bac$) so thatwhat really belon%s to the heart is in perpetual movement! Not so what belon%sto the head! The several parts of the brain remain stationary) so the brain is invery truth a physical symbol for the consciousness of Space the -owin% blood)the -uid of the heart is in its circulation an ima%e of the mobility of spiritual

consciousness! Thus every physical phenomenon is a symbol for thecorrespondin% spiritual reality! /t is an e"tremely interestin% fact that in our veryblood we have an ima%e of certain faculties of the spiritual investi%ator and alsoof the worlds in which he moves!/n risin% to a hi%her level of consciousness we actually %aGe into a @uite di,erent$ind of Space) one that is un$nown to ordinary e"perience) one that would comeinto bein% if the -ow of Time were) so to spea$) constantly to con%eal) tocoa%ulate! Thin$ of it in this way! F /f you wanted to have before you what youe"perienced yesterday) one moment of yesterday would have to be as if <"edand the immediately present moment F which has even now already passed Fwould have to be held as if in a snapshot) and then all these snapshots wouldhave to be placed side by side! That will %ive you an in$lin% of what the spiritualinvesti%ator sees livin%ly before him! 8e has before him not ordinary space butSpace of an alto%ether di,erent character from physical space) as if the worldwere perpetually bein% photo%raphed and the photo%raphs placed side by side! This other $ind of Space is essentially and fundamentally di,erent from the



space $nown to man in everyday life! /n this latter space it is impossible todiscern a picture of the spiritual Space ?ust referred to! 2or if one tries to drawsome line in physical space) this can only be done where lines already e"ist! utwhat the spiritual investi%ator traverses in spiritual Space cannot be inscribed atall) for there Time becomes Space we pass from one point to another!Ordinary consciousness is enclosed within space and cannot emer%e from it! utthe spiritual investi%ator does emer%e from it! 8e $nows how be has to move to

events which may have ta$en place four or <ve days previously! 8e can draw aline alon% which he moves from today to <ve days a%o! Such a line cannot betraced in ordinary space! So we arrive at a concept of Space which correspondswith the memory of the spiritual investi%ator and in which lines may be drawnwhich do not belon% to ordinary space! This is somethin% that may be calledSpace with a new dimension) a fourth dimension! The Space which theinvesti%ator thus enters has one more dimension than is ever found in ordinaryspace! #e must therefore say that the spiritual investi%ator emer%es from threedimensional space the moment his hi%her memory be%ins to operate! Such aconcept of fourdimensional Space is not only thin$able) but there is actually ahi%her faculty F the hi%her memory F for which this fourdimensional Space isabsolutely real!/n a certain respect everythin% connected with evolution has its reverse side)and this applies also to the development of the faculty of soul ?ust referred to Fthe faculty of memory! The %oal before anyone who receives instruction with aview to developin% consciousness of the hi%her worlds is to attain this new)spiritual ISpacememoryJ that is possessed by the spiritual investi%ator! /n thecourse of such development it may happen that you hear people who do notunderstand what is happenin%) complainin%: I/ used to have an e"cellentmemory) but now it has deteriorated!J Those who really understand will notcomplain but will realise that this is @uite natural! /t is an actual e"perience) for

it is a fact that durin% the process of spiritual development the ordinary memoryis) at <rst) impaired! Anyone who $nows this will not let it trouble him for he$nows too that he receives full compensation for the loss when he is close to thepoint where it mi%ht become dan%erous! 8e will have %reat diculty if he has torecollect somethin% he e"perienced yesterday but he will notice that picturescome before his soul in which e"periences of the past are revealed) and this isnaturally a much more faithful memory than is otherwise possessed in life! Therefore we may hear such people spea$ of havin% su,ered a $ind ofobscuration of the memory and havin% then ac@uired a new $ind of memory)superior to the ordinary one) for that has one %reat -aw: it reveals thin%s in ashadowy way and details are lost! ut in the memory which presents pictures in

space the details appear a%ain! 2aithfulness and e"actitude of memory increaseenormously! Thus we see arisin% a new faculty of soul that is not li$e remembrance inthou%ht of by%one time) but li$e vision! etween what at present corresponds tothis faculty and what it can become a $ind of cloudin% of the faculty in @uestionta$es place and then the new faculty be%ins to operate more and morefre@uently! This cloudin% of such a faculty intervenes as a state of the soulbetween the other two states! So we have to distin%uish three states of soulfaculties: <rst) that of the ordinary memory which may have a certaine"actitude secondly) a $ind of cloudin% thirdly) the memory which li%hts up in anew form! The state in which such a faculty is revealed at its hei%ht is called a5Manvantara7 of the state in @uestion) and when cloudin% sets in we spea$ of a53ralaya7! These are e"pressions drawn from Oriental philosophy! #e cantherefore spea$ of a 5Manvantara7 of the memory of ordinary consciousness) ofa $ind of 53ralaya7 of this memory of ordinary consciousness) and of a returninto the 5Manvantara7 state when the new $ind of memory arises!



9emindin% ourselves of what has been said about human evolution it may bearmed that in earlier epochs man already possessed a $ind of lo%ic of theheart at the present time he is passin% throu%h the sta%e of lo%ic of the intellectand in the future he will re%ain a lo%ic of the heart in which the lo%ic of theintellect has been absorbed and elaborated! ut in the earlier sta%e of a lo%ic ofthe heart there must have been amon% man&s other faculties of soul somethin%similar to what will have to be ac@uired in the future when lo%ic of the heart

arises in a new form! Thus we are not only referred bac$ to an ancient state ofthe thin$in% of the heart when intellectual thin$in% did not yet e"ist) but also tosomethin%) similar to the hi%her $ind of memory described above) only then itwas at a lower level it was a $ind of memory that wor$ed in pictures) ?ust as willbe the case at the sta%e to be reached by man$ind in the future!And now we can really form some idea of the nature of a primeval man! 8e didnot thin$ li$e a man of today) for thin$in% in ideas and concepts was a facultyac@uired much later he had only the lo%ic of the heart) unillumined byintellectual reasonin% or scienti<c thin$in% in the modern sense! ut with thatlo%ic of the heart a $ind of spacememory was connected: Time became Space!Nowadays) if a man wants to loo$ bac$ into the past) he must e"ert his memoryas far as it reaches! /f it does not reach far enou%h he is obli%ed to turn todocuments and records! Dou $now how the past is investi%ated today! /t isinvesti%ated throu%h the study of evidences preserved in traditions) in stonetablets) in fossilised bones or shells or stones whose forms indicate thetransformations that have ta$en place since earlier sta%es of evolution! All thesethin%s are e"plored in order that in this way we may have a picture of the past!#e are now loo$in% bac$ to an earlier sta%e of humanity when man had the pastbefore him as an immediately present reality) as a picture in Space! This %ivesus a clue to an earlier sta%e of the human soul when man did not need to ma$einvesti%ations into his ori%in) for he was able actually to behold it! Accordin% to

the de%ree of his development he could loo$ far bac$ or less far bac$ into thepast and see whence he himself ori%inated! This e"plains the %reat reverencewith which in ancient times man loo$ed bac$ into the past and his direct$nowled%e of the past!8avin% envisa%ed these three successive sta%es of humanity) we must now loo$rather more closely into the nature of man if we want to increase ourunderstandin% of human evolution! Man was not always as he is today he hasbecome what he is) %radually and by de%rees! 8e has evolved out of otherstates) out of other forms of e"istence) into his present state! /n connection withthe life of soul we have referred to an earlier state) because it resembles onewhich man must attain in the future after havin% $nown what we in the present

a%e call the power of headthin$in%! .irect transformation from the earlier to thefuture state would) of course) be inconceivable the fruits of the present have tobe ta$en into the soul in order to rise to hi%her sta%es! Anyone who wants toreach the sta%e of lo%ic of the heart must have assimilated what can be %ainedfrom lo%ic of the intellect) althou%h then) admittedly) it must be for%otten!No sta%e of human development can be s$ipped every one of them must betraversed! Thus in order that man&s development in the future should be madepossible) in order that he should one day be able to approach what stands as anideal before his soul at the present time) he had <rst to develop to the presentsta%e! efore he reaches the sta%e of lo%ic of the heart) the lo%ic of the headhad to be unfolded by means of the or%ans of the brain and spine! rain andspine were formed out of the forces that -owed into man from the #orld of9eason everythin% else was $ept bac$! This was possible because man hadsucceeded in e"cludin% from the wonderful formation of his brain all the forcesof other worlds) admittin% only those of the #orld of 9eason! ust as we mustnow wor$ with the brain as a foundation) so had the wor$ of the #orld of 9eason



formerly to be carried out! The brain as an instrument and the wor$ of the #orldof 9eason presupposes the wor$ of the world immediately below it! #e are hereloo$in% bac$ upon somethin% that developed under the in-uence of the #orld of Spirit) when as yet the #orld of 9eason was not active at all! ut we loo$ into afuture when forces will -ow into us from the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es) orArchetypes) ?ust as we loo$ bac$ to a past when the foundation correspondin% toan earlier sta%e of development was formed out of the #orld of Spirit! #e shall

<nd this easy to understand if we apply to it all that has been said!Our brain is formed out of the #orld of 9eason! #e have found that an earlierlo%ic of the heart preceded the lo%ic of the intellect! The lo%ic of the heart wasonly made possible throu%h deeds from a spiritual realm! /t thereby becomesintelli%ible that the present human heart was formed at a previous sta%e! Theordinary) unconscious lo%ic of the heart is much more closely related to thepresent physical heart than is the hi%her lo%ic of the heart) which is naturallymuch more spiritual! ut the ordinary lo%ic of the heart actually has a $ind ofmedium of e"pression in the physical heart) as intellect or reason has in thebrain!#henever man re%ards a thin% as bein% true) beautiful) %ood) not throu%hdispassionate) intellectual re-ection but by a direct approach) a @uic$ened pulsema$es him conscious of the heart&s assent! The heart actually beats di,erentlyin response to the beautiful than in response to the u%ly or pernicious! /n thisori%inal lo%ic of the heart there is somethin% that may be called spontaneoussympathy! #hen this lo%ic of the heart which functions in the subconsciousbecomes more clearly articulate) the heart shows @uite plainly by the circulationof the blood that it is an e"pression of this lo%ic! And a painful e"periencerepeatedly brou%ht before our eyes can in-uence our bodily nature by way ofthe heart to the point of causin% actual illness! There can be physiolo%icalcon<rmation of this!

Our brain was formed out of the #orld of 9eason and our spiritualised heart ofthe future will be formed out of the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es as we haveheard) our present heart was formed out of the #orld of Spirit! Thus the heart isrevealed as an or%an indicatin% the foundation which e"isted in man before theor%an of thin$in% was formed! The brain) therefore) could only have beencreated at a later sta%e than the heart! All this %ives one a @uite di,erentconception of man&s e"ternal bodily nature! The several or%ans are not alle@ually developed the brain is a later structure than the heart the heart is theolder or%an and had to be elaborated in a certain respect before the brain coulddevelop on that foundation! ut an or%an does not cease to evolve whenanother is in e"istence! #hen the brain came into bein% and proceeded to

develop) the heart too continued to evolve! The heart as it now is a,ordsevidence of two transformations) the brain of one only! #e cannot understandthe heart by e@uatin% it with the brain and re%ardin% it as of e@ual development)but only by conceivin% it as the older or%an of the two) as an older ancestor ofthe brain! Anyone who puts the heart on a level with the brain is li$e someonewho puts a person of forty by the side of a <fteenyearold and says: These twoare standin% side by side) so / will study them to%ether and form an idea of whatthey are simply by loo$in% at them beside each other! F That would be sheerstupidity) for in order to understand them individually the period of theirdevelopment must be ta$en into account! To understand the one) the lifeperiodof ( years must be ta$en as a basic factor) and the lifeperiod of 4+ years in thecase of the other! 3erhaps the boy of ( is the son of the 4+yearold father! /t isan absurdity not to ta$e this factor into account) yet modern anatomy has falleninto the trap! /t does not $now that di,erent or%ans must be di,erently viewedbecause they are at di,erent sta%es of development! As lon% as we are withouta science of anatomy which studies the various or%ans not merely in spatial



?u"taposition but accordin% to their value as older or youn%er formations) weshall not understand much about the true nature of man! Spiritual Science mustsupply the $ey for understandin% what is shown to us by ordinary science) if true$nowled%e is to be attained!Anyone who is under%oin% %enuine development attains nothin% at all ofimportance throu%h ordinary ratiocinative thin$in%) for it is not possible fromoutside to detect which or%an is older or which youn%er success can be

achieved only by one who enters the spiritual worlds and learns how todistin%uish thin%s there! #hen loo$in% bac$ with his Spacememory he need not%o so very far to <nd the be%innin%s of the brain but to <nd the ori%in of theheart be must %o much farther bac$! The human physical or%anism can beunderstood only when e"plained by Spiritual Science!Now we will remind ourselves of what has been said) namely that between thesoulfaculty belon%in% to normal consciousness) for e"ample the faculty ofmemory which points bac$ to an earlier memory) and the new faculty of Spacememory F between these two soulfaculties there lies a $ind of dar$enin%! Thespiritual investi%ator <nds somethin% correspondin% to this dar$enin%) to the3ralayastate after the Manvantarastate) in the process of evolution as a whole!Let us) for e"ample) picture the heart and the brain of a man as they coe"isttoday in the physical body for a while they have developed side by side) but atan earlier sta%e there was not much connection between them! #e cantherefore distin%uish a state of man when the hi%hest forces -owin% into hisbein% were those of the #orld of Spirit) and then a state when the forces of the#orld of 9eason also -ow into him! etween the two states lies a 3ralaya) whenhuman development is e"tin%uished and then passes into a new phase!So we loo$ bac$ from presentday man) who has both heart and brain) to onewho had a heart only) not yet a brain) and between the two is the state of3ralaya! #hen some day in the future the hi%her state is reached) the hi%her

state which is attained in spirit today by the clairvoyant investi%ator) we canunderstand that it will also e"press itself in the body) that man will also have a@uite di,erent e"ternal appearance! The clairvoyant investi%ator today is not yetable to alter his bodily constitution! /f a 0od descends he has to appear in ahuman body of the present a%e! #hat we have to attain throu%h spiritualdevelopment has to be attained in the invisible members of our bein% but in afuture state what is attained spiritually will be e"pressed physically as well! Thismeans that we must picture a man of the future who will have a @uite di,erente"ternal appearance his brain and heart will have been completely transformedand he will have developed a new or%an! ust as the brain now lies above theheart) the transformed heart of the future will have a new position in relation to

the brain! ut between these two states there will a%ain be a 3ralaya! Man&spresent e"istence must be obliterated physically and a new state must follow! There are therefore three successive states of humanity! ;(= Man as heartman;'= 3resentday man when everythin% is related to the brain and its activity ;1=Man of the future) of whose nature we can have a faint in$lin%!#hen we contemplate man as he is today) we are bound to say that in hispresent form he can be ima%ined only on the Earth! Anyone who contemplatesman in his connection with the whole of Earthe"istence will say: Man is as theEarth is) for he is connected with the forces of the Earth in his body thesubstances can be combined in no other way than they actually are! /ma%ine theEarth only sli%htly altered and man in his present form simply could not live onit! The air must be constituted e"actly as it is and substances combined as theyare! #e cannot picture presentday man as a bein% with a physical body withoutpicturin% the whole Earth as it is! /f) therefore) reference is made to an earliersta%e of man) to the earlier heartman) we must picture him connected with adi,erent planetary condition and if at some time in the future man ac@uires the



faculties which the spiritual investi%ator of today already possesses) we musta%ain picture him on a di,erent planet) not on our Earth as it is at present! /f weare to <nd our bearin%s by means of a $ind of Ariadnethread) we must pictureto ourselves that ?ust as man has evolved from an earlier state) so the wholeEarth has evolved with him that it too points to an earlier planet out of which ithas evolved) to a new state in the future! etween the two lies a period ofdar$enin%! The state out of which the Earth has evolved and whence man

derives his earlier form) is the Old Moonstate of the Earth) and the state intowhich the Earth will evolve in the future) when man will have a new form) is the upiterstate! The Earth has evolved out of an Old Moon planetary state and willevolve into a upiterstate!3icture to yourselves that such transformations can only ta$e place as a result of all conditions in the human $in%dom bein% chan%ed! .urin% the Old Moonstateit was the forces of the #orld of Spirit that -owed into man durin% the Earthstate proper the forces -ow from the #orld of 9eason in the upiterstate theforces of the #orld of Archetypal /ma%es will stream in! The in-uences fromspiritual worlds upon these three states are in each case @uite di,erent!8ere we have a %limpse of somethin% that modern science cannot discover! /ttries to e"plain the ori%in of a planetary system by the illustration of a rotatin%drop of oil! #e) however) have a conception of how a planet arises out of aprecedin% form! True) we have no professor who rotates a drop of oil but wehave a picture of certain cosmic ein%s wor$in% from di,erent spiritual realmsand enablin% the various planets to come into bein%! #e have a picture of theSpiritual at wor$ in the 3hysical!/ have shown you that the structure of man must be in conformity with thestructure of the Earth! Our present Earth is only possible at a certain distancefrom the Sun and in a de<nite relationship with the other planets! /f anythin%whatever were to chan%e in the solar system) man too would be @uite di,erent

with the transformation of the Old Moon into our Earth) the whole solar systemchan%ed!So we see that a connectin% thread can be found between the transformation ofthe Microcosm and of the Macrocosm! ein%s are active in both cases! #hen ourEarth becomes upiter the whole solar system will chan%e! The chan%e will bepreceded by a $ind of dar$enin% outwardly it appears as if there were a mist orfo% in which ein%s from the realms of spirit are perpetually at wor$! efore ourpresent solar system came into e"istence there was an earlier system out ofwhich ein%s brou%ht forth the present one!And so we %o bac$ and bac$ and bac$) and <nally we come to a condition sodi,erent) so utterly unli$e that of today that in face of it ordinary @uestionin%

ceases to have meanin%! #e must also learn how to frame our @uestionsdi,erently when we come to consider other states of worlde"istence! #hy dowe as$ @uestionsK #e as$ them because our intellect is constituted in a certainway! ut our intellect came into e"istence only when the brain had been formed!/ntellectual @uestionin% therefore loses all sense when applied to states beforethe intellect itself was there! /n the worlds which constituted only the foundationof the intellectual world) intellectual @uestionin% no lon%er has any meanin%! There we must resort to other means of en@uiry) other means of co%nition!3eople who see no farther than their noses believe that it is possible to pumpthe whole world dry with the ordinary $ind of @uestionin%! ut each sin%le thin%must be e"plored in the way that is appropriate to it! /n re%ard to the worlds thatpreceded our Earth we can <nd our bearin%s only by means of the forces which<nd e"pression in the thin$in% of the heart) in the lo%ic of the heart!Man needs to chan%e in respect of his intellectual curiosity! And althou%h weneed not be as impolite as the man who answered those who were as$in% what0od was doin% before he created the world) by sayin% that 0od was busy cuttin%



feelin% is already presentin other words) that truth about the hi%her worlds canbe felt by numbers of human hearts before it is actually understood! That there are souls today possessed of this sense for spiritual truths is provedby the fact that a lar%e number of people are not satis<ed by currente"planations of the %reat problems of e"istence and come to Spiritual Sciencelon%in% to <nd answers to these problems! These are people whose hi%herfaculties say IDesJ to the communications of Spiritual Science) althou%h at <rst

they only feel throu%h their natural sense of truth what later on they willintuitively understand! Thus the spiritual investi%ator appeals more directly tothe human soul than do other investi%ators at the present time! These others tryto compel ac$nowled%ment of their <ndin%s by @uotin% e"periments) adducin%mathematical proofs and the li$e) so that their listeners can hardly do otherwisethan admit the validity of what they say! The spiritual investi%ator is in a di,erent position! 8e must appeal to far moreintimate provinces of the human soul! 8e is not yet in a position) li$e otherscientists) always to supply e"ternal proofs) but he $nows that the same senseof truth which lies in his own heart is present in the hearts of all men) and thatthey) provided only they understand their own nature) can a%ree with himspontaneously) even if they do not yet fully %rasp everythin% he has to impart! Thus he appeals to the sense of truth in the hearts of men) and leaves it to thefree ?ud%ment of souls whether they will a%ree with him or not! 8e does not tryto convince by his e"positions) but he maintains that what lives in his soul livesin every human soul and that his tas$ is to %ive the stimulus for somethin%which can and should well forth of itself from every soul! 8e see$s only to %ivee"pression to the truths which every soul) %iven sucient time) coulde"perience in itself! ut because we human bein%s are dependent upon oneanother) we should see$ to%ether) especially in matters connected with thespiritual realm! Spiritual Science should be a stimulus to a common search for

truth!Only by bearin% this in mind can we see in the ri%ht li%ht much of what has beensaid in the precedin% lectures! There must be an appeal to every soul to seewhether it cannot <nd within itself the possibility of understandin% what hasbeen presented here! Account has been ta$en of the fact that understandin%cannot be immediate but only when the stimulus has ta$en root in the heart)%erminates there and becomes an active force! F /n this sense certainsupplementary remar$s will now be made!#e reached the point yesterday of spea$in% about an e"perience of clairvoyantvision) namely) that our Earth is the successor of another planetary evolution)havin% evolved out of an ancient planetary body we call the Old Moon ;not the

present Moon=! #e also spo$e of what clairvoyant vision sees prophetically)namely the emer%ence of a new planet after a state of twili%ht) after a 3ralaya) acondition of dar$ness! The Earth will then be transformed into another planetarybody F upiter! ;A%ain this is not the upiter we $now today but the futureincarnation of the present Earth=! / have e"plained that the Earth passes throu%hsuccessive incarnations) ?ust as the human bein% passes from one incarnation toanother!/f we e"tend this thou%ht) the @uestion arises: .id this other planet) the OldMoon) in turn ori%inate out of some otherK 8as the Earth had even earlierincarnationsK This is a @uite natural @uestion! /n order to be able to answer it weshall have to e"plore somewhat further a<eld! #e must remind ourselves <rst ofall how in his daily life man alternates between the states of wa$in% andsleepin%! This has been a %uidin% motif throu%h these lectures! /n sleep) man isdivided) as it were) into two parts! The physical and etheric) bodies are left lyin%in the bed) while the astral body and the E%o pass out into a spiritual world) intothe Macrocosm! Thus in the sleepin% state there is the body that remains visible



on the physical plane) to%ether with the invisible etheric body) and the supersensible part of man&s bein%) consistin% of astral body and E%o! This latter part isbeyond the ran%e of e"ternal investi%ation and is revealed only when clairvoyantvision is directed to the human bein% in the state of sleep!Now we will as$ ourselves whether there is in the e"ternal world somethin% inany way analo%ous to what is left of man durin% sleep at ni%ht) somethin% thathas a physical and an etheric bodyK #e $now that man&s physical body is

sub?ect to @uite di,erent laws immediately the etheric body leaves it at death! /tthen becomes sub?ect to purely physical and chemical laws and <nallydisinte%rates! The faithful <%hter) which from birth until death maintains thehuman body intact durin% sleep) is the etheric body) or lifebody! ut manpossesses what we call his lifeprinciple in common not only with the animalsbut also with the plantworld as a whole! #hen we loo$ out into ourenvironment) we perceive the plantworld all around us! A plant reveals itself tous as a bein% which) li$e man) is not sub?ect entirely to physical and chemicallaws it follows these only when it dies! /t is the mineral $in%dom that followsphysical and chemical laws alone! 3rimarily) the laws of the mineral $in%dom areascribed to man&s physical body! ut this body is permeated by a hi%her systemof law belon%in% to the etheric body which abandons the physical body at deaththe latter then becomes sub?ect to purely physical and chemical laws! The e"ternal part of man which remains in the physical world durin% sleepconsists of physical body and etheric body! The plants too consist of physical andetheric bodies! Therefore man has the etheric body in common with the plants!ut there is nevertheless a radical di,erence between the physical body of manand the physical body of the plant for in man the two bodies F physical andetheric F are permeated by the astral body and E%o) whereas the plant has onlythe physical and etheric bodies! 8ence even e"ternally man is bound to confrontus as an essentially di,erent bein% because in him these bodies are permeated

by the E%o and astral body! Thus man stands amon% the bein%s of the plantworld) similar to them in hislower members) the physical and etheric bodies and risin% to a hi%her level byvirtue of his) astral body and E%o! /n our human nature we are therefore a$in tothe plant only in so far as the plant has developed the two lower members! utin the earthly world we are dependent upon the plantworld! 3hysically) mancannot but feel this dependence! As far as his body is concerned he candispense with animal nature he need not) unless he so chooses) feed on animalsubstance) but he needs the plants in order that his physical body may be ableto live in this world! The physical human body presupposes the e"istence of thephysical body of the plant! Man&s physical body as it is today cannot e"ist

without the environment of a plant$in%dom provided for it by the presentplanet!Now let us thin$ of a man passin% over into the state of sleep! 8e can do this@uite independently of any outer relationship between the Sun and the Earth hecan sleep at an hour of the day or ni%ht independently of the Sun) thou%h best)indeed) when the Sun is not shinin%!Let us now en@uire into the correspondin% process in the plantworld! Therethin%s are di,erent! Man can maintain the connection between his physical andetheric bodies independently of the in-uence of the Sun&s rays and of therelative position of the Sun to the Earth! This the plant cannot do! The plant is ina de<nite respect dependent upon the relation of the Earth to the Sun! True)there are perennial plants but they too) to%ether with dyin% nature) losesomethin% of the essential characteristics of plantlife in the autumn and mustreceive new forces in the sprin%! #hen in sprin% the rays of the Sun re%ain theirwarmth%ivin% power) plantlife awa$ens when in autumn the Sun be%ins to loseits power) plantlife passes into a $ind of @uiescence! Even the perennials come



near the mineral state durin% the winter they preserve their life) but in theirwoody parts they appro"imate to a dyin% condition! The essential life of theplant dies away in winter and reawa$ens in sprin%) to reach its hi%hest point ofunfoldin% in summer! /n autumn the plant must let its etheric body %o forth fromitself) somewhat as happens in the case of man at the approach of death!/n the plant and in man the connection between physical and etheric body isdi,erent! The plant is dependent upon the relation of the Sun to the Earth man

has made himself independent of it! 9ememberin% that one part of his bein% isconstituted li$e the plant) and that this part is in evidence at ni%ht when man isasleep and the Sun has withdrawn) we cannot but realise that the plant is anillustration of what we should be as human bein%s if we had not succeeded ininte%ratin% astral body and E%o into our plantli$e nature! The plant presents tous a part of our own bein% which we could not otherwise perceive even thesleepin% man does not function li$e a plant) for astral body and E%o are wor$in%upon him! The plant is an e"ample) an illustration) of a bein% which consists onlyof physical and etheric bodies! 8ence it must be obvious to us that there is notmerely a physical relationship between man and the plantworld but also amoral and spiritual one!Man can very easily become aware of this moral and spiritual relationship to theplantworld by %ivin% bi% natural feelin% free play! 8e needs the plants not onlyfor food but also for his inner life) in order to nourish within himself the feelin%sand e"periences necessary for his life of soul! 8e needs the impressions fromthe plantworld on the physical plane if his life of soul is to be fresh and healthy! That is somethin% which cannot be overemphasised! A de<ciency in the humansoul soon becomes apparent if it is shut o, from the fresh) vitalisin% in-uence ofthe plants! /n a man who) throu%h city life) is practically cut o, from immediatecontact with the plantworld) someone possessed of deeper insi%ht will alwaysperceive a certain inner de<ciency! /t is absolutely true that the soul su,ers

harm from the loss of the spontaneous ?oy and deli%ht arisin% from directcontact with the plantworld! This loss is one of the shadowsides of moderncivilisation to be found chie-y in %reat cities! #e $now that there are people whocan scarcely distin%uish a %rain of oat from a %rain of wheat yet to be able to doso belon%s to a healthy human nature! This may be re%arded as indicative! Onemust view with re%ret any prospect of a future when man mi%ht be alto%etherdeprived of any direct contact with the world of plants! The followin% may indicate the deep foundation of this relationship! Man as aevolvin% bein% could not always be in a state of sleep) for then he could not live!Man has a physical and an etheric body) but he is only conceivable in his presentform throu%h bein% permeated in the wa$in% state with astral body and E%o! On

the other hand) in the sleepin% state he has no consciousness of the physicalworld and in order to have consciousness there he must come down into bi%physical and etheric bodies! 8e be%ins to have consciousness only when heplun%es down into these bodies! ust as the form in which man stands before ustoday would be impossible without astral body and E%o) so we may also say thatwith his inner life) with his consciousness of his E%o) of his feelin%s and impulsesof will) man could not unfold this consciousness if he did not possess physicaland etheric bodies! 8e needs these bodies as the foundation for his inner life itfollows from this that they are the necessary antecedents for the evolution of hisastral body and E%o! 3hysical body and etheric body must be there <rst andastral body and E%o can then enter into them!So our attention is led bac$ not only to a%es when man&s form was di,erent fromthe form that was his on the Old Moon) but also to a%es when he actually had noastral body or E%o but only a physical and an etheric body! The physical andetheric bodies had <rst to be built up from out of the Macrocosm before theycould serve as the necessary antecedents of astral body and E%o! /n a primeval



epoch there had to ta$e place somethin% that in a certain sense happens everymornin% when the astral body and E%o emer%e from the spiritual world and areconnected with the physical and etheric bodies! Thus astral body and E%o had atsome time to come out of the spiritual world and <nd physical and ethericbodies already in e"istence! 8ence before man could become what he is today inhis hi%her members) his physical and etheric bodies bad to be prepared bycosmic 3owers and ein%s without any cooperation on his part!

Man had <rst to evolve in a $ind of plante"istence before it was possible for hisastral body and E%o to develop! Our thou%ht is therefore turned to a muchearlier a%e when man evolved out of the Macrocosm as a $ind of plantli$ebein%! Today) the only ri%ht attitude to the plants is to thin$ as follows! F Theseplants before us) verdant and blossomin%) illustrate in the immediate presentthe nature that once was ours before there was within us the possibility of errin%or turnin% to evil! They show us our human nature in a primeval epoch when itwas not yet <lled with impulses and desires) when it was still in its pristinepurity!ut when we associate with this the other factor) that our human plantnature)as it is now) is independent of the relative position of the Sun to the Earth)whereas the plants around us today are dependent on it) buddin% as they do insprin% and dyin% in autumn) then we shall say that we can never have been thesame as these plants which are dependent upon Sun and Earth! An astral bodyand E%o must have been able to enter into the plantli$e bein%s which we oncewere! No astral body or E%o can enter into the plants of today! Man&s physicaland etheric bodies di,er from those of the plants in that they are) as we haveseen) independent of the relative position of the Sun to the Earth! Theconnection that is present in man between the physical and the etheric bodymust have ori%inated under planetary conditions di,erent from those underwhich the plants of today ori%inated!

#e shall be able to understand these di,erent conditions if we re-ect upon thefollowin%! F #e $now that the cohesion of the physical and etheric bodies inman is independent of the relative position of the Sun to the Earth! ut is italto%ether independent of the in-uence and wor$in%s of the SunK No) for withoutthe Sun) physical and etheric bodies could not e"ist and be connected with eachother! 6nless aftere,ects of the Sun&s activity were constantly present) no mancould evolve on the Earth! 8e is dependent on the Sun but independent of itsrelative position to the Earth! #hen the Sun withdraws its direct) warmthbestowin% force from the Earth it does not fail to leave behind in the Earth itswarmth and health%ivin% power! /n the <elds in the country) even nowadays)deep pits are often du% in the winter and potatoes laid in them the potatoes

$eep alive because the warmin% power of the Sun that was outpoured durin%summer has withdrawn under the Earth&s surface! /t remains active beneath theEarth&s surface) preserved throu%h the winter! Even thou%h the Sun haswithdrawn) its e,ects remain! The coal for our stoves is ta$en from the Earth&sinterior! /t was formed in a remote past throu%h plants havin% been embedded inthe Earth! These plants %rew under the in-uence of the Sun&s warmth and li%htwith the plants the Sun&s li%ht and warmth from lon% past a%es are drawn forthfrom the Earth in order to be put to use! Thus the Earth has the Sun within iteven when the Sun&s relation to the Earth chan%es! /n their sproutin% life) theplants of today have somethin% that has been brou%ht into bein% by the relativeposition of the Sun to the Earth! The Earth needs what it receives from the Sunand preserves this throu%h the winter! #hen) owin% to the Sun&s position) theEarth is not bein% warmed directly) the preserved solar warmth is neverthelesspresent! #ithout it) man&s physical and etheric bodies could not live! #ere manto be removed from the Earth his life could not continue he would perish! TheEarth which bears within it the Sun is essential to his e"istence!



the Earth! On the Old Sun) man was in an aeriform condition and earlier still heconsisted only of warmth! A further rare<cation of the physical was the warmth;on Old Saturn=! #e must re%ard this warmth as the <rst IphysicalJ state! And wemust thin$ of the whole solar system as bein% adapted at that time to this <rstplanetary condition) the <re or warmthstate of our Earth!#e now come to somethin% very remar$able! /t is possible for clairvoyance toloo$ bac$ to a primordial state of pure warmth! #e call this the Old Saturnstate

of the Earth! To clairvoyant vision it is direct reality! #e can also thin$ bac$ tosuch a state! ut it has been emphasised that we must thin$ of everythin% thenas bein% adapted to entirely di,erent conditions! #e have heard that even whenspea$in% of the Elementary world a @uite di,erent conception of warmth mustbe ac@uired! #e cannot even ima%ine our present <re or warmth without thee"istence of the other three states) the %aseous) the -uid and the solid! /t willtherefore be comprehensible that the warmth of Old Saturn was essentiallydi,erent from our present warmth or <re! #ith the chan%e in planetaryconditions) everythin% is altered and transformed! Today) <re is burnin% %as orsome other burnin% substance! ut on Old Saturn there was no air or %as!/ma%ine warmth permeatin% all space and then you will feel how warmthbecomes a @uality of soul! #hat we call warmth today is somethin% that we feel)as for e"ample when we put a <n%er near a solid ob?ect that is red hot! utdurin% the a%e of Old Saturn there was nothin% solid in e"istence there wasnothin% but undi,erentiated warmth pervadin% space! /t is only possible topicture it by turnin% from the notion of e"ternal warmth to that of inner warmth)warmth of soul! #hen we have a hi%h ideal our soul %lows with warmth but thiswor$s ri%ht into the physical and we become physically warm as well! The bloodis warmed and circulates di,erently! To a sensitive observer it is @uite evidentthat warmth e"perienced in the life of soul wor$s ri%ht into the physicalconstitution! #e must thin$ of this warmth that pervades man&s constitution as

the result of some spiritual activity) in connection with the <rst planetaryincarnation of our Earth) when spirit and warmth wor$ed to%ether out of theMacrocosm!/f an impression of a soulandspiritual nature warms man) it would be absurd toas$: how does it come aboutK 2or noone can understand how a hi%h ideal canma$e a man %low with warmth unless he himself is able to be warmed by anideal! Such a process must be understood inwardly! There are individuals whosee that others are inwardly warmed by an impression of a spiritual nature) butthey <nd this incomprehensible and they will often be heard sayin%: 5Thosepeople are fools! They %et e"cited by somethin% that leaves me coldH7 Such anutterance shows that the spea$ers are incapable of any similar e"perience! /f

they were) they would <nd that man&s constitution itself provides thee"planation!#hat) then) do we need to realise in connection with the warmth of Old SaturnK8ow can we understand itK Only by realisin% that the warmth of Saturn is bornout of the spirit! 2rom the Earth we %o bac$ to Old Moon) from Old Moon to OldSun) from Old Sun to Old Saturn! ut we realise that Old Saturn issued directlyfrom the spirit! Therefore we can understand the ori%in of our Earth by %oin%bac$ to the spiritnot to a cosmic nebula) but to the spirit) and by picturin% howthe be%innin% of Earthevolution ori%inated from the combined wor$ of spiritualein%s!#ith this in mind we can understand why it is said in my boo$) Occult Science)that certain Spirits) the Spirits of #ill) let their own essence stream forth! QR SeeChapter /P of Occult Science F an Outline ;(*>'>1 edition=) pp! (('B! TheSpirits of 3ersonality and then other spiritual ein%s wor$ed with them! 9eadwhat is said in that boo$ of spiritual ein%s who let their deeds -ow to%ether inthe Macrocosm and throu%h these conver%ent streams Old Saturn came into



e"istence! #e see here that @uestionin% ceases to have meanin% when the pointis reached of e"plainin% how the physical ori%inates from the spiritual! 2or if wewant eventually to behold the spiritual ein%s who confront us) we no lon%eras$) 5#hyK7 in the ordinary way! A lover of abstractions can %o on as$in% 5whyK7ad in<nitum! 2or e"ample) seein% ruts in the road) he as$s: 5#hy are the rutsthereK7 F 5ecause wheels made them!7 F 5#hy did wheels ma$e themK7 F5ecause a cart was driven by!7 F 5#ho was in the cartK7 F 5A man!7 F 5#ho

was heK7 F 5Soandso!7 F 5#hy was he drivin% the cartK7 8ere we come to thedriver&s purpose F which is the <nal thin% to be as$ed about) for nobody can %etbeyond that by means of @uestions! And so when %reat cosmic truths arepresented) @uestionin% ceases to have meanin% at a certain point!/ndications have now been %iven as to how it is possible to understand what ispresented by Spiritual Science! .ata must be collected from very wide domains! The spiritual investi%ator) however) does not need to do this! 8e loo$s bac$ andsees what the Earth once was and can describe) for e"ample) what the Earthwas li$e in the Old Sunstate! At our present sta%e we can see how the Sun wasable to put forth what the Earth stores within itself for the winter&s needs! #eremember that in the autumn) countryfol$ bury their potatoes because thee,ects of the Sun are still in the Earth! 2acts have to be collected fromeverywhere and when everythin% is ta$en into account it will be seen thatSpiritual Science can be veri<ed by facts) provided only we are able to assemblethem all! 2acts widely dispersed in the Macrocosm have been brou%ht to%etherand we have seen how in a far distant past man himself) the Microcosm)developed throu%h the sta%es of Old Saturn) Old Sun and Old Moon! On theEarth he has reached a provisional termination in his present development!And <nally we as$: /s there somethin% in man that points to the futureKAccordin% to yesterday&s lecture the human heart is a very ancient or%an! /n anentirely di,erent form it was already in e"istence on the Old Moon and on the

Earth ha% simply been transformed! On the Old Moon there was as yet no brainbut the heart was in e"istence and moreover had within it the basis for a futuretransformation! ust as a blossom bears within it the seed of the fruit) so the OldMoonheart bore within it the Earthheart!Are there or%ans in the human body which already today point prophetically tothe futureK There are indeed such or%ans! True) they are by no means fullydeveloped today but they will reach %reater perfection and after the decline ofother or%ans will belon% to man in a hi%her form when he becomes the future upiterman! One such or%an is the laryn"! Today it is only on the way towardshi%her development! /t reveals itself in a %erminal state and will becomesomethin% @uite di,erent in time to come! /f we study the laryn" in its relation to

the lun%) we can say that in a certain way it presupposes the lun%) it evolves onthe basis of the lun%&s e"istence! ut we realise at the same time that man isstill at an imperfect sta%e with respect to what he produces in his laryn"! #hereis the %reatest human perfection to be found todayK /n that which %ives man thepossibility of callin% himself an 5/7! This is what sets him above the other bein%sof the Earth! Man is an individuality centred in the E%o and it is this individualitywho passes from one incarnation to another! #e can loo$ bac$ into a life whichpreceded the present life on Earth) then farther and farther bac$ into the past)and we can also loo$ forward into the future! Man passes on into his followin%incarnations with whatever he has made his own in his E%o! /f any one of youcould loo$ bac$ into your earlier incarnations you would <nd yourself incarnated)for e"ample) in the 0recoLatin epoch) in the E%yptoChaldean epoch) in theancient 3ersian epoch) in the ancient /ndian epoch) and so on! ut the wor$accomplished by the human laryn" is not in the same sense bound up with theE%o! #hat the laryn" can do comes to e"pression in each incarnation in adi,erent form of speech man does not carry it with him from one incarnation to



another! Speech is not somethin% that is individualised today! /n the course ofincarnations a man may belon% to di,erent peoples and use di,erent lan%ua%es)di,erent lin%uistic idioms! /t is therefore clear that speech is not so intimatelybound up with the E%o as thin$in% is! Speech is not bound up with our trueindividuality) with that which constitutes our real human worth! Speech issomethin% we have in common with other human bein%s it comes to us fromconditions outside! Nevertheless there is no denyin% that speech is somethin% in

which our inmost self) the spirit) e"presses itself! The @uality of feelin%s and thecon<%uration of thou%hts are carried into the sounds of the words so that wepossess in our laryn" an or%an throu%h which) with our individuality) we are partand parcel of somethin% wrou%ht by the spirit) but not of somethin% we haveourselves wrou%ht! /f speech were not wrou%ht by the spirit) the spirit of mancould not e"press itself throu%h that medium! /f the laryn" were unable tocapture in son% the tone imparted by the spirit) the human soul could note"press itself throu%h the medium of son%! The laryn" is an or%an which brin%sto e"pression spiritual activities) but not individualised spiritual activities! Thelaryn" reveals itself to the spiritual investi%ator as an or%an throu%h which manis membered into a %roupsoul which he cannot yet brin% to the sta%e ofindividualisation but the laryn" is developin% to the point where it willeventually be able to be a receptacle for a man&s individual activities! /n thefuture) man will so transform his laryn" that throu%h it he will be able to %ivee"pression to his own individual reality! That is only a prophetic indication of aprocess which we must call the formation of a %erminal or%an which will betransformed in the future! /f we pay heed to this we shall <nd it comprehensiblethat as individuals we have no power over what our laryn" produces) that it is%iven to us by %race and that we must <rst %row into it with our individuality! ust as with our own E%ohood we are rooted in ourselves) so with our laryn" weare rooted in the Macrocosm as a whole! Out of the Macrocosm there still -ows

into us that which ma$es us human! Throu%h our heart we ma$e ourselves men throu%h the laryn" the Macrocosmma$es us men! #hen in a new incarnation we %row into the Microcosm) we %rowinto an or%anism of which the heart is the centre but this or%anism) this bodilyconstitution) is unceasin%ly maintained by the Macrocosm) the forces of theMacrocosm stream into it! Throu%h the laryn" there streams into us from theMacrocosm somethin% that is a supreme manifestation of the spirit! There weare lin$ed with the Macrocosm! #e not only receive into ourselves in-uencesfrom the Macrocosm but in a certain sense we also %ive them bac$) althou%h westill have no individual control of them! #e are born into a fol$lan%ua%e wehave as yet no individual control over what is innate in the fol$spirit! 8ence a

%reat truth is contained in what is said at the very be%innin% of the ible: thatman&s earthly evolution waited until there could be created for him the crownin%structure of his breathin% apparatusthe laryn" which is created by the spirit)bestowed by 0od himself! 50od breathed into man&s nostrils the breath of lifeand he became a livin% soul!7 This is an indication of the point of time whenthere -owed into man that which is connected with the divine) with theMacrocosm! The 8uman is connected with the heart) the .ivine with the laryn"!/n that man not only breathes but can also transmute his breathin% processesinto son% and speech produced by the laryn") he has in his breathin% a facultycapable of the hi%hest possible development! 8ence there are %ood %rounds forsayin% that man is always developin%) that he will rise to hi%her and hi%hersta%es of spirituality! /n Oriental philosophy the hi%hest member that man) asSpiritMan) will develop in the future is called 5Atma7 F a word derived from5Atmen7 ;breath=! ut man must himself participate in the development of thisSpiritMan from the present rudimentary be%innin%s! 8e must wor$ at the



development of speech and son% in which) as a transformed breathin% process)there are in<nite possibilities!8avin% this in mind we shall realise that as soon as man can produce an actuale,ect upon his breathin% process) this will be a very potent in-uence! /t maytherefore all the more easily happen that with his present constitution man isnot yet ready for it! /f e"ercises that may be underta$en include any that have todo with re%ulatin% the breathin% process) the utmost caution must be applied to

such e"ercises and the teacher must feel the %reatest possible sense ofresponsibility! 2or it was the divinespiritual ein%s themselves who in theirwisdom modi<ed the breathin% process in order to raise man to a hi%her sta%e)and because he was not ready they were obli%ed to place speech outside thecontrol of his individuality! /ntervention in the breathin% process meanspenetration into a hi%her sphere and this demands the very %reatest sense ofresponsibility! /t may be said @uite ob?ectively that all the instructions %iven soli%htheartedly nowadays about this or that mode of breathin% really ma$e theimpression of children playin% with <re! To intervene consciously in the breathin%process is to invo$e the .ivine in man! ecause that is so) the laws of theprocess can be derived only from the very hi%hest attainable $nowled%e and theutmost caution must be used in this domain! At the present time) when there isso little consciousness of the truth that the spiritual underlies everythin%material) people will believe all too readily that this or that breathin% e"ercisecan be advanta%eous! ut once it is realised that everythin% physical has aspiritual foundation it will also be $nown that any modi<cation of the breathin%belon%s to the sublimest of revelations of the spiritual in the physical it shouldbe associated with a mood of the soul that is a$in to prayer) where $nowled%ebecomes prayer! /nstructions in these profound matters should be %iven onlywhen the $nower is <lled with reverence) with the realisation of the %racebestowed by those ein%s to whom we must loo$ up) because they send down

their wisdom from the hei%hts of the Macrocosm F hei%hts far %reater than we)with our ordinary $nowled%e) can scale! The ultimate outcome of SpiritualScience is that there rin%s out li$e a prayer:0otte% schUtGender) se%nender StrahlerfUlle meine wachsende Seele)dass sie er%reifen $annstWr$ende rWfte allUberall!0eloben will sie sich)der Liebe Macht in sichlebensvoll Gu erwec$en)und sden so 0ottes raft

auf ihrem Lebenspfade)und wir$en in 0ottes Sinnmit allem) was sic hat!May 0od&s protectin% ray of blessin%3ervade my %rowin% soul) That it may everywhere lay holdOf stren%thbestowin% forces!My soul shall vow To wa$en in itself Life%ivin% mi%ht of love) To spread 0od&s stren%thAs seed alon% life&s path)And thus) with all it owns) To wor$ 0od&s will! ;3rovisional translation=



The %oal of Spiritual Science is to %uide the whole man into the hi%her worlds)not merely the thin$in% man but also the man of feelin% and of will! #e canre-ect about the thin%s of the world and remain cold and unmoved in doin% so)but we cannot $now the hi%her worlds without turnin% our %aGe upwards andthen inevitably we awa$en impulses of feelin%) we draw the impulses for ouractions from $nowled%e! Those who feel this to be a natural matter of course willnot come to a standstill at that point! They will endeavour to emulate the %reat

ideals which shine down from the spiritual world! Our will too) as well as ourfeelin%) becomes devout when we reach the last test in the @uest of spiritual$nowled%e! Anyone who professes to have $nowled%e of the spirit and remainsindi,erent in his feelin% and will has not been ri%htly a,ected by this $nowled%e!Spiritual Science culminates in a mood of reverence) and in the dutiful practiceof the principles of action reco%nised as ri%ht! Spiritual $nowled%e must bereceived into the will! #hen we absorb spiritual $nowled%e in its true meanin%)somethin% wor$s within our soul li$e a spiritual Sun!ut because the facts revealed by spiritual $nowled%e must be received into theheart) it is natural that they should -ow throu%h our civilisation by way ofcommunion between human bein%s! Other $nowled%e may well be attained by ahermit) but when the heart is involved) man feels himself drawn to other hearts!Spiritual $nowled%e is a bond of union between men! 8ence it is natural thatthose who have the same aspiration for a spiritual ideal today feel the ur%e tocome to%ether! /t is of in<nite si%ni<cance that when Spiritual Science spreads inthis way) it brin%s human bein%s to%ether) %athers to%ether those who in acertain sense reco%nise each other and feel a$in! #here else in the presentworld of social chaos could we <nd human bein%s with whom we feel inwardlya$inK The world is so dismembered todayH There are people who sit side by sidein oces or wor$rooms or factories doin% the same $ind of wor$) but they maybe far) far apart in soulH This is a conse@uence of modern life! #e may be sittin%

to%ether with others) yet circumstances are such that we have no understandin%of one another! ut if we %o somewhere $nowin% that here are others who haveseen the same li%ht and cherish the same love as we have in our souls) whorevere the same holiest treasure) then we are ri%ht to assume that they havewithin them somethin% that is a$in to our own soul in its innermost depths!3eople otherwise stran%e to us may then reveal themselves to be the bearers ofan inner bein% whom we $now and we realise that there can be $insfol$ in thespirit!/n the measure in which these ideals spread) we shall <nd $indred souls over thewhole %lobe! Therewith somethin% is said of untold si%ni<cance for our a%e) formodern spiritual life! nowled%e brou%ht down from hei%hts of spirit chan%es

human bein%s) ma$es them into individuals who in the essential part of theirnature are related in spirit) however far apart and indi,erent to one another theymay have been! /n spreadin% such $nowled%e we not only spread wisdom of thehi%her worlds but somethin% that en%enders love between human souls! #e donot promul%ate human brotherhood by means of pro%rammes) but we lay thefoundations of brotherhood whenever similar ideals are $indled in a number ofhuman bein%s) whenever others loo$ up as we ourselves do to what we holdsacred!Every course of lectures should not only enrich our souls with $nowled%e butalso) imperceptibly) help us to learn how to love other human bein%s more) howto weld them to%ether spiritually! Lectures on Spiritual Science are %iven notmerely in order to spread $nowled%e but to lead men towards the %reat %oal ofbrotherhood) to promote human love and the pro%ress of the human soul in thewarmth of love! This has been the aim of these lectures too!#e have endeavoured to brin% to%ether) at times from faro, re%ions)$nowled%e that may %ive us understandin% of the world) of its e"istence and of



its spiritual ori%in! y risin% to the spirit) as is our duty) we <nd the innermostcore of our own bein% throu%h true self$nowled%e! True love is rooted in thespirit! Only when a man <nds his fellowman in the spirit does he <nd him withindissoluble) unswervin% love! This is the life%ivin% element in all humane"istence! Spiritual Science brin%s a formative) life%ivin% force into the soul!And when throu%h what would otherwise remain dispassionate) intellectual$nowled%e we feel warmed in soul to such a de%ree that this warmth brin%s

individuals closer to one another) then we have received such $nowled%e in theri%ht way! Even a presentiment of transition from the lo%ic of thin$in% to thelo%ic of the heart will tend to brin% individuals to%ether! The lo%ic of thin$in%may lead to intense e%oism) but the lo%ic of the heart overcomes e%oism andma$es all men participants in the life of man$ind as one whole! /f we havepermeated ourselves with the truths of the spirit as with livin% waters) then wehave understood and %rasped the impulse that should come from SpiritualScience!/f we %o away from a LectureCourse such as this) not only with an enrichedstore of $nowled%e but also with an enhanced warmth of soul which will last forthe rest of our lives) the Course will have ful<lled its aim! May somethin% at leastof this ideal have been achievedH 8owever len%thy the lectures may have beenit lies in the nature of thin%s that only little can have been %iven! The <nestresult would be if in individual hearts and souls so much warmth were %eneratedthat it would remain until our ne"t meetin%! May its %low continue until the timein anticipation of which / now say to you from the bottom of my heart: Auf#iedersehenH

Note on teminolo%yParyin% terminolo%y employed ;see Lecture Si" and onwards= for the supersensible worlds:

/n Oriental Theosophy:3hysical 3laneAstral plane9upa.evachan or Lower Mental planeArupa.evachan or 8i%her Mental plane/n 9osicrucian Theosophy:3hysical #orld!/ma%inative #orld#orld of /nspiration or of the 8armony of the Spheres#orld of true /ntuition/n the Movement that has associated itself with that of the 9osicrucians: QRThis

macrocosm and microcosm

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